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.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You bake up the most beautiful loaves of bread, Natalia! It must have smelled very good at your house!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

It amazing how potatoes add incredibly to texture and flavor. Honey . . . of course!
Wonderful crumb.

Unknown said...

che bello questo pane...
complimenti

Anonymous said...

Your bread looks amazing. Look at the air pockets!

Cakelaw said...

This looks delicious Natalia - well done!

Lien said...

Ciao Natalia, che bel pane! Con patate e formaggio, mmm mi piace molto questa combinazione! Mille grazie per la tua ricetta per BBD#17.

(PS. I'm so busy getting these entries all sorted... I'll reply real soon on your other mail, no I didn't forget!! Baci)

Jude said...

Yummy looking crust and crumb. Never heard of this book before so thanks for the sneak peek.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Natalia, I'm amazed by all the wonderful cooking that you've been doing! When are you going to open a restaurant? This bread looks wonderful; any bread that can taste like au gratin potatoes is a winner in my book.
Nancy

zorra said...

Wow, what a beautiful crumb!

GStaples said...

oh! this sounded great and looks yummy! Good job!

Siri said...

Absolutely lovely! This is my kind of bread. Thanks for the recipe!

-Siri