You Say Po-tay-to, I Say Po-tah-to

Well, not really...I say po-tay-to...but this month's Daring Baker's challenge gave room for different versions of the same thing...potato bread! I've never made potato bread but make bread quite often. I knew that this would be the perfect bread to make for my family Friday to go with our newly traditional gumbo on the day after Thanksgiving. Since my parents moved last year, our house has become the location for Thanksgiving, which is the big holiday for my dad's side of the family. We had 23 people there...not including the little kids. So, I had lots of samplers for this challenge. The entire morning as people began arriving from their respective hotels the question kept being voiced, "Whacha making?" When I told them potato bread, I think their mouths becan salivating. In this recipe the amount of flour you use is dependant upon how much potato you use and how much liquid is produced. I think I ended up using 6 and 1/2 cups of flour (out of a possible 8 and 1/2) and my dough was fairly sticky; however, I didn't want to jeopardize the tenderness of the bread by adding too much flour...SO, I just worked with the stickiness! Tanna gave us the option of doing loaves, rolls, focaccia, breadsticks, really whatever shape bread floated our boats as long as it was savory. I decided to do a focaccia an some rolls. When I pulled out the rolls, I was concerned. They felt really hard on top...THEN I tried to get them out of the pan. AHHHHH...stuck! I didn't spray the pan and they were very stubborn coming out. I'm not a big roll fan, so I didn't taste these and was extremely disappointed with them until my Aunt said that they were perfect. She described them like a baguette...crispy on the outside and melts in your mouth once you get inside. I think that's a pretty good roll! The focaccia bread was by far the more popular version (except with my 15 month old cousin...she's really into bread right now and loved the rolls!) with my family. I used waxed paper to put the dough on and, again, didn't spray it. When I tried to pull the paper off, any dough that had not been on flour was stuck! It took some TLC to get it off, but it was worth it. This had the perfect texture. It was so soft and flavored nicely with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and parmesan cheese. Overall, this was a good challene. A nice little change from all those sweets! The bread was fairly simple to put together and quick for a yeast bread (I started at 8 am and was finished by around 12:30). Check out the other Daring Bakers and their bread here. This is the recipe with instructions for rolls and focaccia.

Ingredients:
8-16 oz. floury (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 cups(950 ml) water, reserve cooking water

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

6 ½ cups to 8 ½ cups (1 kg to 1350g) unbleached all-purpose

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (130g) whole wheat flour

Making the Dough (Directions will be for making by hand):
Put the potatoes and 4 cups water in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cook, half covered, until the potatoes are very tender (this doesn't take long!). Drain the potatoes, SAVE THE POTATO WATER, and mash the potatoes well. Measure out 3 cups (750ml) of the reserved potato water. Add extra water if needed to make 3 cups. Place the water and mashed potatoes in the bowl you plan to mix the bread dough in. Let cool to lukewarm (70-80°F/21 - 29°C) – stir well before testing the temperature – it should feel barely warm to your hand. You should be able to submerge you hand in the mix and not be uncomfortable.

Mix & stir yeast into cooled water and mashed potatoes & water and let stand 5 minutes. Then add 2 cups of flour to the yeast mix and allow to rest several minutes. Sprinkle in the remaining 1 tablespoon salt and the softened butter; mix well. Add the 1 cup whole wheat flour, stir briefly.
Add 2 cups of the unbleached all-purpose flour and stir until all the flour has been incorporated (now you have used 4 cups of the possible 8 ½ cups suggested by the recipe). Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface (I used a really big bowl, so I just left it in the bowl) and knead for about 10 minutes, incorporating flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough will be very sticky to begin with, but as it takes up more flour from the kneading surface, it will become easier to handle; the kneaded dough will still be very soft. Place the dough in a large clean bowl or your rising container of choice, cover with plastic wrap or lid, and let rise about 2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead gently several minutes. It will be moist and a little sticky.

To make rolls: Butter a 13 x 9 inch sheet cake pan or a shallow cake pan. Cut the (1/3 is what I used) dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball under the palm of your floured hand and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch between the balls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 35 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled.

To make focaccia:Flatten out the dough to a rectangle about 10 x 15 inches with your palms and fingertips. Tear off a piece of parchment paper or wax paper a little longer than the dough and dust it generously with flour. Transfer the focaccia to the paper. Brush the top of the dough generously with olive oil, sprinkle on a little coarse sea salt, as well as some rosemary leaves, if you wish and then finally dimple all over with your fingertips. Cover with plastic and let rise for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450°F(230°C)

For rolls: Dust risen rolls with a little all-purpose flour or lightly brush the tops with a little melted butter or olive oil (the butter will give a golden/browned crust). Bake rolls until golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer the rolls to a rack when done to cool.

For foccaia:Place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles, if you have them, if not use a no edged baking/sheet (you want to be able to slide the shaped dough on the parchment paper onto the stone or baking sheet and an edge complicates things). Place the stone or cookie sheet on a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450°F/230°C.
If making foccacia, just before baking, dimple the bread all over again with your fingertips. Leaving it on the paper, transfer to the hot baking stone, tiles or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack (remove paper) and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.