This recipe was contributed by Salome, who recently joined TFL. She is Swiss, and the breads she bakes represent a bread tradition which is new to me. The Southern Tyrolean Potato-Nut Bread (Südtiroler Kartoffel- Nussbrot) particularly appealed to me, since I have made potato breads a couple of times and really enjoyed them, and I like sourdough bread with nuts. It seemed to me that the combination of the potato and nut flavors would be delicious.

Notes: Salome's recipe calls for a mix of hazelnuts and walnuts. My usual source of hazelnuts has very poor quality stock at present, but their walnuts are very good. So I just used walnuts.

Procedure

1. Prepare the sourdough starter by mixing 50 gms of starter with 100 gms AP or Bread Flour and 100 gms of water. Cover and let ripen until it has expanded somewhat and is actively bubbling. (8-12 hours)

2. Cook and peel the potatoes. Mash them or put them through a potato ricer. (Salome says she usually steams the potatoes for this bread, but I decided to roast mine, thinking I would get a more intense flavor. I used Yukon Gold potatoes and roasted them in a covered pot at 375F for about 35-40 minutes. I peeled them and put them through a ricer, directly into the mixer bowl on top of the flour.)

3. Place 200 gms of the sourdough starter in a large bowl or the bowl of your mixer. Add the water and dissolve the starter in the water.

4. Add the bread flour and potatoes to the dissolved starter and mix to a shaggy mass with all the flour moistened. Cover this tightly and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. (This “autolyse” allows the flour to get fully and evenly hydrated and the gluten to start to develop.)

5. Add the coriander and salt and mix them into the dough. I then mixed in a KitchenAid Accolade using the dough hook for 13 minutes at Speed 2. There was some gluten development, but the dough was very loose. It never cleaned the side of the bowl

6. Transfer the dough to a floured board and, with well-floured hands, stretch it into a 14 inch square. Distribute the nuts over the dough, roll it up and knead for a couple minutes to get the nuts evenly distributed in the dough.

7. Gather the dough into a ball and place it in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl.

8. Ferment the dough until it has doubled, with stretch and folds at 40 and 80 minutes. (I think a third stretch and fold wouldn't have hurt.)

9. Transfer the dough to a well-floured bench. Divide it into 2 equal pieces. Pre-shape into logs. Dust with flour and cover with plasti-crap. Let the dough rest for 10-20 minutes.

10. Form the pieces into bâtards and place them on lightly floured parchment paper. Dust again with flour and cover with plasti-crap.

11. Proof the loaves until they are about 1.5 times their original size. (1.5-2 hours)

12. 45-60 minutes before baking, place a baking stone in the oven and make pr

    eparations for

    your oven steaming method of choice. Pre-heat the oven to 450F.

13. Bake with steam for 10 minutes, then in a dry oven for another 20 minutes. If the loaves seem to be getting dark too fast (and they  probably will), turn the oven down 10-20 degrees.

14. Bake until the internal temperature is 205F. Remove the loaves to a cooling rack.

15. Cool completely before slicing.

Potato-Nut Bread from the South Tyrol

Potato-Nut Bread crumb

This is a very enjoyable bread eaten without any spread or addition. It has a mildly chewy crust, once cool. The crumb is tender, as expected, and has a cool mouth feel, like many high-hydration breads. There is a mildly sour under-tone, but the predominant flavor is from the toasted walnuts. The walnuts also gave up some of their oil into the crumb, so the crumb feels like it is oiled.

I thought this bread might be good with a blue cheese, so I tried it with some Point Reyes Blue. This is a rather strong-tasting cheese, and it overpowered the bread. Maybe a fresh Chevre? A nutty Compté?

David

Submitted to Yeast Spotting on Susan FNP's  Wild Yeast blog (This week, hosted by Nick at imafoodblog)

I baked Hamelman's Roasted Potato Bread a few months ago (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10934/roasted-potato-bread-hamelman039s-quotbreadquot). Floyd commented that he had used leftover mashed potatoes to make bread. That sounded interesting. And I had admired the sourdough roasted potato bread about which SusanFNP had written in February of this year. See: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2009/02/23/roasted-potato-bread-two-ways/.

So, today I made Sourdough Potato Bread with mashed potatoes left over from last night's dinner. (No seconds on potatoes for dmsnyder! <whine>)

Sourdough Potato Bread, shaped in the "Fendu" style.

Mashed potatoes

Boil 750 gms of yukon gold potatoes in their skins until a knife goes into them without resistance. Peel the potatoes and put them through a potato ricer. Mix with 1/3 cup of chopped shallots sautéed in 4 T good olive oil. Add salt (just a few dashes from a shaker) and fresh-ground pepper (12 twists of a mill) and mix thoroughly. Add more olive oil to taste. Reheat in a sauce pan over a low fire, turning frequently to minimize sticking. (I have also heated them in a covered enameled cast iron casserole in the oven.) Serve and enjoy, but set some aside to make bread the next day!

Procedures

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the levain in the water.

2. Add the mashed potatoes and mix. The potatoes can have some clumps, but they should be cherry-sized or smaller.

3. Add the two flours and mix to a shaggy mass.

4. Cover the bowl tightly and let the dough rest for 20-60 minutes to hydrate the flour and allow gluten to start developing.

5. After the autolyse, sprinkle the salt over the dough and mix it into the dough using the method of your choice. I used the “stretch and fold in the bowl” technique. See http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10682/mystery-page-249-solved&rdquo;

6. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes, then repeat the “stretch and fold in the bowl.” Repeat the rest and stretch and fold twice more at 20 minute intervals.

7. Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly oiled glass container. (I use an 8 cup glass measuring pitcher.) Cover tightly.

8. Bulk ferment until double in volume. Stretch and fold on the counter at 50 and 100 minutes. Then allow fermentation to continue until the dough has doubled. (About another 50 minutes.)

9. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Gently pre-shape into rounds. Cover with plasti-crap and allow to rest for 10-20 minutes to relax the gluten.

10. Shape the pieces into boules, batârds or, if you want to be traditional with the potato bread, into fendu shapes.

11. Proof the loaves in bannetons or en couche, covered with plastic to prevent drying of the surface. If you shaped fendus, proof with what will be the top of the loaf down. Allow the loaves to expand to 1.5 to 1.75 times their original volume.

12. About 45-60 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500F with a baking stone in place and prepared for your oven steaming method of choice. (I currently place a metal loaf pan and a cast iron skillet, heaping full of lava rocks, on the bottom rack of the oven. About 3 minutes before loading the loaves, I dump a handful of ice cubes into the loaf pan and shut the oven door. Just after loading the loaves in the oven, I pour ¾ to 1 cup of boiling water over the lava rocks and shut the oven door fast. I remove the containers 10-12 minutes into the bake. This process also “vents” the steam, so the loaves finish baking in a dry oven.)

13. Score the loaves as desired. (You don't score fendus, of course.) Load into the oven. Steam the oven immediately. Turn the oven down to 460F, and set a timer for 10 minutes.

14. After 10 minutes, remove your steaming hardware.

15. Turn down the oven to 440F. Continue baking until the loaves are done – internal temperature of 205F and the loaves give a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. This should be about 20 minutes more. Monitor the loaves frequently for the last 20 minutes. The oil in the potatoes and, maybe, the sugar in the potatoes will cause the bread to brown more than a lean bread.

16. Cool the loaves completely before slicing.

    

Enjoy!

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

The Roasted Potato Bread from Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread" is another bread that has been on my "to bake list" for a long, long time. It is a yeasted, lean bread made with pâte fermentée. It uses a mix of bread and whole wheat flour, and, of course, roasted potatoes.

I made these in the recommended, traditional "pain fendu" (split bread) shape. It looked cool in the pictures and gave me an excuse to buy yet another wooden rolling pin, because my others are too thick, and the dowling I have is too thin. I'm sure you all understand.

This is a very good bread, considering it's not a sourdough. The crumb is cool and tender, yet a little chewy. It has a lovely, straight ahead wheaty flavor. There is no potato taste per se. It would make a wonderful sandwich bread or toast. Hmmm ... or bread to soak up sauce.

David

The inside of the loaf was VERY tender, and very yummy! It is a favorite of my 5 year old. (she is not a fan of crust!)

Boy do I wish I knew how to do more than one photo at the time. I'm sorry you guy's.