Whole Wheat Potato Bread

I have made a lot of bread recipes, but I will say, hands down, this is my favorite.

(Ok, maybe the soft pretzels.  But that hardly counts as a bread!)

This was a real sandwich-bread/toast-bread/slice-of-it-with-a-pat-of-butter-as-a-snack-bread.  And I literally ate it as all those three, until the entire loaf was gone.  I will say, it did not take long.

Potato bread is a bit of a sticky, messy pain to make -- no simple, neat baguette flour/water recipes here.  But that annoying stickiness when you're attempting to knead the dough translates into amazing, moist deliciousness in the final product.  I'll take a bit of messiness for delicious, flavorful bread any day of the week -- that's what kitchen sinks are for.

Best of all, this bread carries a ton of flavor without a pre-ferment or a starter -- it's just plain old flour, water, potato, and yeast.  But what an amazing result!  

PS - Some of you may have noticed that I've been hovering just under 1,000 subscribers for about two weeks now, and it is actually starting to drive me crazy.  So if you haven't subscribed yet, please consider hitting the "Subscribe" button on the top of the screen -- this is a milestone I've really been looking forward to, and I'm getting impatient!

Whole Wheat Potato Bread

INGREDIENTS

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and boiled (reserve 1 cup of the potato water)

1 cup potato water

1/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoons salt

DIRECTIONS

Cook potatoes for 15-20 minutes, or until a fork pierces them easily. Do not drain. Remove potatoes and reserve 1 cup of the potato water. Mash the potatoes with 1/2 cup of the potato water.

At the same time, proof the yeast by mixing it with 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tbsp sugar. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until milky and foaming.

In a large mixing bowl, add mashed potato mixture, the salt and the bread flour. Knead for about 10 minutes, adding the rest of the potato water and the whole wheat flour. Continue to knead until the dough is stiff enough to form one lump (it will still stick to your hands if you're kneading by hand).

Turn the dough out into a lightly greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch the dough down, and place it in a greased 1 1/2 pound loaf pan. Let rise until the bread is the shape that you want, around 30 minutes for a regular-sized loaf. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees while the dough is rising.

Bake the loaf for 40 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing, and serve.