Rustic Potato Loaves

Potato Prep: 3 minutes
Potato Cook: 20 minutes
Potato Cool: 20-30 minutes
Mixing Dough: 10 minutes
Kneading: 11 minutes
1st Rise: 20-30 minutes
Shaping: 5 minutes
2nd Rise: 20 minutes
Baking: 45-50 minutes
Cool: 20 minutes or more

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Baking with Julia (contributing baker Leslie Mackie)

It might seem like this is a complicated recipe if you look at all the times listed above. But when you consider that most of the time is unattended, and that this recipe creates a unique type of bread, it really is not so bad. The potatoes are what add an hour to the time. If you had the cooled and cooked potatoes, you are actually spending less than 2 hours from start to tasting, to get this rustic bread.

This bread has a unique flavor from the use of 1.5 pounds of potatoes. It is a great flavor, in my opinion, just different than you might expect. The crumb on this is pretty tight and this makes a great sandwich bread. I have also enjoyed eating it plain.

I tried the bread after the required 20 minutes of cooling, and after it completely cooled, and I think it tasted best after completely cooling. It really still tastes great the next day too.

The recipe explains the process very well and I knew what to expect about this at first very dry dough, and then later wet dough. However, there seems to be one mistake, in that they never tell you to peel the potatoes after cooking them. You are told to cook them with the peel on, but I cannot imagine that you are to mash the potatoes with them on. Maybe that step is in there, but I can't find it!