Potato bread

I was asked to cater a private celebration lunch and the star of the menu was to be a whole suckling pig.
When you have such a statement main course, I think you need to hang back on the accompaniments and keep things simple but they do also have an important role to play, the most important of which is to mop up all the lovely piggy juices.

 I wanted something slightly more special than potatoes or bread, so I combined the two and made potato bread. There are quite a few recipes online but in the end I devised one myself and I was really pleased with the results. It went down really well with the lunchers, too.


Ingredients
You will need 3-400g of cold mashed potato - make extra next time you're cooking, or make it ahead of time. Don't add seasoning or butter to the potato, just mash and set aside.
 
1tsp dried active yeast (or 1 sachet quick yeast or 15g fresh)
half tsp sugar
450g strong white bread flour
12g salt
1tbsp vegetable oil
300-350ml warm water

In a small glass / ramekin, cream the dried active or fresh yeast with the sugar and a little water. Set aside until it starts to foam. If you're using quick yeast then just add it straight in to the flour and skip this stage.
In a mixer bowl, weigh the flour and salt, then add the yeast mix, vegetable oil and most of the water (you may not need all of it).
 
Use the dough-hook attachment to knead the dough for 10-12 minutes, or do it by hand on a clean surface, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
 
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in volume - this can take an hour or more.
Put the dough back in the mixing bowl and use the dough hook to add the mashed potato and mix until well combined.
 
Then shape and place the dough on a baking sheet, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to prove.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
 
When the dough is ready (press a fingertip in to the dough, if the indent remains it is ready to bake; if the dough springs back it is not yet ready), sprinkle with flour, slash the top and  bake in the middle of the oven for 45-60 minutes - turn the tray every 15 minutes to get even colour.
 
This bread is dense and moist and keeps well. If any survives the first outing, it would be great toasted and eaten with marmalade.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday kitchen confessional

So I am in the wilds of the northwest of Scotland this week, which I'm afraid is still a dire destination for a foodie ... yes there is lovely smoked salmon and the occasional kipper, but on the whole what is available to visitors (outside of chef-driven exclusive luxury lodges) is deep-fried stodge. The Scots are not unjustly famed for their oats porridge but they also invented the deep-fried Mars bar. From the window of our holiday cottage I can see Loch Sunart lazily lapping at the shore in the early evening sunshine - at this time of year it never truly gets dark and last thing before going to bed I look out on the silvery ribbon of water and hope to see an otter (I have done before, not yet on this trip). So we're back to basic self-catering holiday food: one-pot chicken casserole on our first night, which always pleases me in its deep chickenness. Plus, the first time David cooked it for me I knew I wanted to live with him forever. It's slow food but takes only minute
Read more

Rhubarb and almond tart

Image
I AM  a feasting kinda gal, excess draws me like a moth to a flame and there's nothing that excites me more than an 8-hour lunch that becomes supper (I call that lupper) and then goes on into the night as we open yet another bottle. My friend Andy, who is more English than I am, recognises it as a 'Leo' (Sayer = all-dayer in Cockney rhyming slang). It's a well-established ritual but one that happens less often as we get older, and not at all under current lockdown restrictions. Sigh.  Tasting menus excite me. They allow smidgins of lots of different foods but never trigger the synapse that controls the Off button.  I read menu like others novels. All the starters, please,  then divvy up the mains so we can all have a taste. Someone at the table will always say 'ooh, there's a chocolate thing on, I must save room for that' and I'll think boo, how dull, I'll have the CHEESE.  I am quite well known for desserts generally, have made and sold co
Read more

Kedgeree for days

Image
We're all cooking so much more these days and while for some of us that's a busman's holiday for others it's a tedious treadmill of getting meals on the table with all the associated planning, prep and cleaning up that entails.  We're all looking for inspiration and hungrily devouring recipe collections and suggestions, and enviously eyeing up instagram feeds from foodies who make everything look so delicious - we do, after all, eat with our eyes.  Here at Daffodil Soup HQ we've been making lots of comfort food, baking bread and delving in to kitchen classics, which led to one of the most comforting meals of Lockdown so far - the most serendipitously delicious example of kedgeree that it just had to be shared.  Originally a Bengal staple dish of spiced rice and lentils served with fried fish (Khicharhi), smoked fish and boiled eggs were added by Colonial cooks in the kitchens of the British empire to make it a favourite at the breakfast table
Read more