Another Potato Bread Recipe

This is an old recipe from one of my favorite cookbook series, The Farm Journal Cookbooks. Whenever I see one of these at a thrift shop or at a garage sale I snatch it up because the recipes are home-style, cozy, and always good. Always.

You won’t find haute cuisine in them but recipe after recipe of filling wholesome food for large, hungry families like mine.

I love this recipe for “Roadside Potato Bread. I have made it for years and years. It comes out with a brittle-crisp crust, a light and chewy crumb, tender and just perfect thickly sliced and toasted with lots and lots of organic butter. It also makes a great base bread for roast beef (or turkey) and gravy. I know.. diner cooking to the max. In winter time, though, isn’t that type of comforting diner food what we are looking for? Rich peasant-y lentil soups and stews, thick slices of warm, fragrant bread, big hunks of chocolate fudge cake washed down with fresh, country milk. There is nothing that is better, no matter how much we spend and how sophisticated we think we are.. give me a raclette plate, plowman’s lunch, or biscuits and gravy, and watch me lick the plate…

This particular recipe does use those awful instant potato flakes. I know. Really, I know. But by using the flakes you give up no lightness for texture and flavor so it is a good thing. Oh yeah. Lard. Again, yeah I know. But you are Daring Bakers, right? Be daring. You can substitute unsalted butter for the lard but again, you lose something in the translation. One variation I love is adding crumbled bacon to the dough as it is kneaded the first time…Wonderful rolls, promise!

Potato Bread

2 loaves

3 1/2 c milk

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c lard

2 tsp salt

1/4 c instant mashed potato flakes (not reconstituted)

2 pkgs (4 1/2 teaspoons) dry yeast

1/4 tsp ginger (this is my addition, ginger makes the yeast work better..I read it a long time ago, and it works, I don’t know why)

1/2 c warm water

10-11 c flour

3 tbs cornmeal about

Scald milk. Pour into large bowl and add sugar, potato flakes, lard, and salt. Let cool to lukewarm.

Sprinkle yeast and ginger over 1/2 c warm water. Let set for a few minutes to activate. Meanwhile get an assistant chef.

Add yeast and 4 c flour to milk mixture. Beat 2 minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed, or until batter is smooth. Mix int enough flour, a little at a time, to make a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl. Turn out on lightly floured counter and let rest 15 minutes.

After Mixing

Knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. It will get the consistency of playdough and be only slightly sticky. Place in a greased bowl, grease the top, and let rise in a warm spot for 1 1/2 -2 hours. I use the oven with the oven light on. If you have a gas oven in the oven with just the pilot light is good…

after kneading

after rising once

Punch down dough and let rise for45 minutes.

punched down

Turn out on counter and divide in 3 parts. Round up in balls and let rest 10 minutes.

Grease 3 loaf pans. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Shape dough into loaves and place in pans. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

This bread freezes well.

this was cut less than 5 minutes after being removed from the oven so the texture looks a little coarser than it actually is because of cutting warm, moist bread. But who can resist?