The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Potatoes?

M2's picture
M2

Potatoes?

Hi all,

I'm planning to make the potato, cheddar and chives bread from the BBA book.  It may sound a bit silly...what kind of potatoes should I use?  The recipe only says "unpeeled potatoes".  Any tips/suggestions will be much appreciated!

flournwater's picture
flournwater

I can't imagine using "unpeeled" potatoes in a bread dough.  I could understand if they were boiled before peeling but to put them into a dough unpeeled is too much of a stretch for my imagination.  My experience with potato bread recipes includes using mashed potatoes and, to that end, the Yukon Gold mashes more smoothly than most others.  That said, I suspect you could use Round White potatoes and, in a pinch, just about any other variety that mashes reasonably smoothly.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Potatoes will do, peel them and grate or shred or mash or stomp or chip, whatever you like.  I would not use them raw.  I managed to do that for years and then realized it was very risky busines.  (Run a search on Rope) 

Any root should be cooked first then added to dough.  Wheather you peel it or not is up to you.  New potatoes have such thin skins a grater makes it hastle free and they taste good too.

Mini

swtgran's picture
swtgran

When I made that bread, which is delicious by the way, I used a regular baking potato and left the skin on and you could just see specks when it was done.  I figured it was supposed to be like a baked potato and that is the kind I bake.  Terry

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I always use unpeeled boiled potatoes when making a potato bread.   I use red, white, or Yukon Golds, something with a thin skin.  They work great.

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

Hi there, I make a lot of potato bread and I've tried a few different kinds. I like to have tiny chunks of potato in my bread and love the character and chewiness of the bread when you leave the skins on.

Make sure the potatoes are cooked first. I have had good luck with using the little red new potatoes roasted w/ olive oil and herbs the day before. These taste fantastic in bread the next day. It's okay that the potatoes will have the olive oil or butter and herbs/spices in them. It improves flavor. Also in Reinhart's BBA somewhere I think he stresses the importance of seasoning the mashed potatoes first- can't remember exactly where in the book right now.

If you use regular baking potatoes, try adding milk and some salt when mashing so they taste better. I've used the mashed potato without anything and it ended up tasting rather bitter in the bread.

As far as looks, I think Yukon Gold's  look good in the bread because of the color.

Anyway, try a few varieties if you wish but I think what would make them taste the best is roasting them w/ olive oil and a bit of salt in a roasting pan (45 minutes or so at 400) and then refrigerating them overnight to use the next day.

Hope this helps!

deweytc's picture
deweytc

I roast my blue potatoes from my garden.  I cut them in rather large chunks, unpeeled, and mix with some EVO.  Then roast them in my convection oven until they are sightly done.  I do not want them to break up in my bread.  With the potatoes, I also roast some garlic.  I cut the garlic also in large chunks, so it does not disappear in my dough.  Sometimes, I add fresh chopped rosemary.  The blue potatoes certainly add a different look to the bread, a pale bue in color.  I usually make three loaves, freeze two.  When frozen, the blue potatoes in the bread are white, but toast them and their blue again.  Very tasty..  My next bread is chunks of Asiago cheese and roasted garlic.

A bakery in Traverse City, MI, made the potato bread for St. Patricks day.  I just used my blue potatoes, instead of white ones.  By the way, I also grew all red potatoes.  The slightly rose flesh makes for interesting dishes.  At July 4th, I used my all blue, all red and Yukon Gold potatoes to make potato salad.  It was a great hit.

flournwater's picture
flournwater

Looks like I'm in the minority (a purist at heart) with respect to using unpeeled potatoes in potato bread.  The idea presented here for using a broad range of potatoes, including their colored skins, is intriguing enough for me to give it a try.

You get the most wonderful informed ideas from the members of this forum.  Sure is a great bunch of folks.

pattycakes's picture
pattycakes

I encourage you to try the Potato Hazelnut bread from Salome on this site:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12819/potatonut-bread-south-tyrol-thanks-salome

It is a wonderful bread, and the crust and crumb are superb.

Patricia

flournwater's picture
flournwater

Thanks Patricia (and David).   I see Salome peeled her potatoes.  I feel redeemed.

M2's picture
M2

This is a great site indeed!  I'm impressed with all these creative ideas, and now I have to make a plan to try making all these bread!

Frankly, I was a bit doubtful when I read the recipe says "unpeeled potatoes", and now I feel more comfortable using the unpeeled version.  I've just checked the BBA recipe, it says boil the chopped unpeeled potatoes in water (no mention of mashing), then use the "potato water" in the dough. 

Yes, Salome's recipe sounds great, I'm going to put it on my To-do list ;)

Thanks so much for sharing your ideas!!!

Michelle