Recipe of the Week (1): Oatmeal & Potato Bread

Earlier this week I pulled out one of my cookbooks – “Making Bread at Home” by Linda Doeser.  My Mom gave me this book when I got my bread-maker a few years ago and I haven’t had the chance (until now) to really experiment with some of the amazing recipes!

The first one I picked was the “Oatmeal and Potato Bread” on page 30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

8 oz/225g floury potatoes (peeled weight) – I used a cup of mashed potatoes

generous 7/8 cup hand-hot water  - I used half hot water and half milk
Note:  hand-hot means hot, but not too hot

3 3/4 cups white bread flour – I used unbleached whole wheat flour

3 tbsp rolled oats

2 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder – I didn’t use this, I added a half cup of milk – see above

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar

3 tbsp butter, softened or diced

1 1/2 tsp easy-blend dried yeast – I used bread-maker yeast

Toppings:

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp rolled oats

The How To:

1)  Place the potatoes in a large pan, add water to cover, bring to boil and cook for 20-25 minutes, until tender.  Drain, then mash until smooth.  Cool.

2)  Remove the bread pan from the bread machine.  Pour in the water, sprinkle the flour over the liquid so that it’s completely covered, then sprinkle in the oats.  (if you’re going to use the milk powder, add this too).  Add the mashed potatoes to the bread pan, then place the salt, sugar, and butter (in the 3 corners of the pan)  Make an indentation in the flour for the yeast without exposing any of the liquid.  Add yeast.

3)  Fit the bread pan in the machine and close the lid.  Set the bread machine to the basic setting, medium crust and press start.  About 5 minutes before the end of the first rising cycle (1 1/4 hours from the start), add the topping.  Brush the surface of the loaf with water and carefully sprinkle over the rolled oats.

4)  When the cycle has finished, switch off the machine.  Remove the bread pan with oven gloves and turn out the bread on to a wire rack to cool.  Remove the kneading blade if necessary.

Now, I used the dough setting on my bread machine.  I removed the dough and placed it in a buttered/oiled bread pan and let it rise for an hour (with a towel over it).  With the oven set to 350F, I brushed the top of the loaf with water and sprinkled on the oats!

Every oven will vary, mine took about an hour to finish.