Thursday, February 26, 2009

Bread Baking Day # 17 Bread with Potatoes



This is a wonderful Potatoes au Gratin Bread in honour of the Bread Baking Day #17 hosted by Lien , I found the recipe in an old book by Sharon Tyler Herbst called BREADS by HPBooks.
The bread is moist and rich of flavour ( I even eat it toasted spread with honey).

Recipe
2 packages active dry yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup half and half (I used whole milk)
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
4 to 5 cups all purpose or bread flour
2 cups shredded peeled or unpeeled potatoes
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese ( 4 oz.) (I used grated Pecorino and Parmigiano)
2 Tbsp butter melted

In large bowl of electric mixer, dissolve yest and sugar in water. Let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Add half and half, 3 Tbsp butter, salt, red pepper and 2 to 2 1/2 cups flour. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer 2 minutes or, beat 200 strokes by hand. Stir in potatoes and enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured board. Clean and grease bowl. Knead dough 8 to 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Because of starch in the potatoes, dough will feel slighly sticky. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover with a slightly damp towel. Let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about an hour. Grease and flour 2 round 9-inche cake pans. Punch down dough. Roll or pat to a rectangle, 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle cheese over dough. Knead cheese into dough until evenly distributed. Divide dough in half. Shape into 2 round loaves; place into prepared pans. Butter 2 (12 inch) squares of waxed paper. Place over loaves. (I used oiled cling film) Let rise until doubled about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F . Slash tops of loaves as desired. Brush each loaf with 1 Tbsp melted butter. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until bread sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Remove from pans. Cool on racks. Makes 2 loaves.


TFF February Challenge Potato Gnocchi with Peas Prosciutto and Ricotta



This Tyler Florence monthly challenge chosen by Megan was great !!
Being Italian I made and eat gnocchi very often !! And I had never heard of Tyler Florence's method for it : cooking the potatoes in the oven and adding baking powder, egg white and grated parmigiano in the dough.
But I'm very curious about new methods and recipes and so I tried it and I must admit it was a great success !
It was such a nice meal and even Andrea who doesn't like gnocchi too much, because they are often too dense, enjoyed it !
To get more informations please visit Tyler Florence Fridays.