TWD: Rustic Potato Loaves

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe featured an easy, unique recipe for potato bread. My husband's ears immediately perked up when he heard that potato bread was on the baking agenda. He loves the soft, moist, slightly-off-yellow loaves of potato sandwich bread you can buy at the store. He claims they make the best grilled cheese sandwiches. However, I quickly informed him that I was fairly certain this recipe would produce a loaf unlike the potato bread he is used to. These loaves have a chewy interior and crusty exterior that is more reminiscent of a good, hearty, rustic Italian loaf.

The dough was a breeze to put together. First, potatoes are quartered and boiled until knife-tender. Then, they are allowed to air dry before being mashed and mixed with flour, olive oil, and yeast. The recipe instructed to boil the potatoes with the skins, but then was rather ambiguous as to whether the skins should be mashed into the dough or not. I chose to remove them because I thought it would be a little off-putting to have chunks of skin randomly scattered throughout the finished loaf.

The dough is kneaded in a stand mixer for about 15 minutes before a scant 20-minute rise period. A quick shaping and the loaves are given one more 20 minute rest before being thrown in the oven to bake. Easy Peasy!

The end result was a full flavored, soft, and slightly salty interior encompassed by a satisfyingly chewy, crackly crust. This is a great bread to enjoy slathered with a bit of butter while still warm. I was super surprised by how developed it looked and tasted given the extremely short rise times. This would be an awesome loaf to make and serve for company when you are especially short on time! It was also a nice, easy recipe to make for my first time back in the kitchen after the birth of my daughter. She spent some quality time with her big brother while I worked on these loaves...

The only criticism I have of the recipe is that it made my kitchen smell a bit like french fries afterwards. I had not really noticed this until my husband came downstairs excitedly and asked: "Are you making fries too?!?!?"

I think he was slightly disappointed to learn that it was still just the bread he was smelling. He consoled himself by eating half a loaf for lunch.

If you would like to give this fantastic recipe a try, please head on over to Simply Sweet where Dawn has posted the recipe in its entirety.