Monday 26 November 2007

Daring Baker November - Tender Potato Bread




This months challenge was chosen by one of the Daring Bakers' Queens of bread making - Tanna of My Kitchen In Halfcups.

This month celebrates the first Birthday of the Daring Bakers group, and my how Lis and Yvonne’s baby has grown wings and started to fly around the world. It has appealed to so many of us, who have wanted to push our own boundries and participate in a shared baking experience, the good and the bad, along the way!


Back to this month though, this months challenge is tender potato bread from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I’ve mentioned before that bread making is not my comfort zone, but one of the reasons I wanted to be a Daring Baker was to break past my faltering bread making attempts.


At this time of year (along with just about everybody else…) I have really very little spare time, so it was only yesterday that I managed to fit in this bread, and I was never a student who did her best work under last minute coursework stress! However, it was either give it a go and hope for the best or duck out completely: so here it is.


I’ve baked with potatoes before; I once made potato scones, and they were the most light and tender little scone / biscuits, memorable even though it was so long ago. I remembered the very soft almost light dough. So I was expecting the potato bread dough to be light as well, and it was compared to regular bread. The instructions said it would be a sticky dough – well they weren’t wrong there, I added the uper amount of flour in the recipe and had to use a spatula in one had to ‘knead’ it at it was extremely determined to stick to the work top! I persevered though, and it looked sort of normal, if still very sticky at the end of kneading. I proofed it, knocked it back and tried to shape it. It was more a splodge job than a shape it job! So I splodged (ahem, rustically shaped….) my bread into a round and some rolls, what we would call buns or softies here.


Upon second proofing the ‘formed’ bread was keen to go sideways, and only a little upwards. I am not a confident bread baker (cakes are more my thing!) so I am assuming it was me who did something wrong. I baked them and ended up with definitely European breads, they had the taste and texture of ciabatta, but as this isn’t what they were supposed to be something must have gone amiss somewhere. The buns would make great sandwiches, and the big bread a stuffed bread sandwich, and although they weren’t looking looking, I won’t hold that against them, as the taste was good, crispy outside and nutty with a little wholemeal flour and tender – sweet and savoury with the potatoes inside.


I do like to try things that are not in my normal baking range, as the more I do it the more I learn, it is a real challenge! Thank you to Tanna for choosing this months challenge and if you would like the recipe look here. More Tender Potato Breads on the sites of the Daring Bakers, just click away. Find the recipe here. Thanks you Tanna for a great challenge!

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice bread, well done !
Anne

kellypea said...

You are so right that it's been busy. Goodness. I could stay out of the kitchen for a week just to rest at this point! Nice job on the bread under your time constraints. And your scones sound lovely. Do you have the recipe?

Nora B. said...

Hi Kelly-Jane,
I'm glad that you were able to squeeze in the time to complete this challenge. I had trouble shaping them too. (mine looked like a ciabatta too). I think it's because I chose to use more potato:flour ratio. And it was worth it because the bread was so tender and moist.

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

I love that the Daring Bakers are willing to take on all sorts of challenges, especially one that is savory. Perhaps your bread didn't rise as much as you'd have liked, but if it tasted great, that's all that counts.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Your bread looks good! Great job!

Cheers,

Rosa

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Kelly-Jane - great going on the bread it does look great- I agree that it's been a busy month. Had to smile as I was having a tough time fitting it into my own schedule too. Glad we both did though as it tasted great didn't it!

sunita said...

Congrats on completing the challenge...nice job.

Mila said...

The great about being a DB is relly to get out the comforting zone... we leran much more and discover new things!!! ccongratulations!

Unknown said...

i think they look good, good job for doing them great on the first try last minute

Anne said...

Ha - my dough was way too wet to shape anything at all, but I loved the bread anyway. :)

violets said...

Hi Kelly-Jane

Your bread looks really delicious I could just eat a piece right now with lashings of butter.


Vi xx

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Yours looks great and as I'm just starting to cook the potatoes to make the bread myself I think you did yours in plenty of time. I'm rather hoping the bread will be made and I'll have posted by midnight! Nothing like leaving it to the very last minute eh?!

Deborah said...

I had a hard time shaping as well - that's why I just went with a loaf and foccacia!! Yours looks great, though, and I don't believe that you are not a bread baker!!

Helene said...

You did a fabulous job given the time of year and how busy things get! My guess for your issues is that you might have added a little bit too much flour. I let my dough relax quite a bit while kneading it so the gluten strands would develop and give me more stretch than goo. I would have been happy to break bread with you that day!

Anonymous said...

oh yeah, the dough was quite sticky, but you seem to have made a wonderful job, and I´m very happy you are getting past your fear of bread, since it´s quite addicting once you get the hang of it.

Andrea said...

I'm with you. The dough was not anything that could be formed, it just kind of did what it wanted to do. Congrats on doing a nice job!

Cookie baker Lynn said...

Your bread looks very nice. Good job on the challenge!

Peabody said...

The dough does take some getting used to working with it.
Glad you could get the challenge in with your hectic life.

Anita said...

Goodness it was a busy month for everyone wasn't it? I'm glad you found time to make such a great looking bread!

breadchick said...

Great job on this month's challenge. It sure is hard to find time during the holidays isn't it! Luckily, during the proofing times of bread you can do other holiday kitchen things. Glad you liked the result.

April said...

looks wonderful

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Kelly-Jane I don't think you did anything wrong at all. The focaccia is supposed to be a bit ciabatta like. This is not the easiest dough to work and there is a lot of it.
I think you did excellent. . . it's about reaching and learning not being perfect compared to anybody else.

slush said...

It was hard finding time with the holidays, and it gets worse in Dec eh? But you fit 'er in and your bread looks and sounds fantastic. Great job!

... said...

very good job on the tpb

Karen Baking Soda said...

Oh, you can make fluffy scones? How? That's something I will never be able to conquer! Great going on the bread, especially during these stressful times!

Anne said...

Gald you were able to make the challenge...well done!

Anonymous said...

It was certainly a sticky dough! But you came through great with your bread :) I really like how this group stretches my baking skills too!

Freya said...

Looks completely delicious KJ, I don't know how you manage it, what with your Nigella task too!
Great job!

Jen Yu said...

Come on now, they look great! Give yourself some credit - after all, you are a Daring Baker :) I think they look lovely and you nailed it. The crumb on the focaccia is wonderful.

jen at use real butter

Brilynn said...

Love the 'rustic-ness' of the buns!

Veron said...

Yes it was indeed a busy time of year, I was not sure I could complete this challenge. I have the same problem with my rolls they tended to expand sideways instead of up. Great job on the bread!

Julie said...

The big loaf looks wonderfully big and pillowy, and the buns look great, as well! I'm intrigued by the idea of potato scones. Your description of them made me wish I had one!

Helene said...

I am glad you found the time to make it even if it was last minute, because you ended with some delicious looking bread!

Cheryl said...

Isn't it awesome the things this group gets us to do. I love how yours came out.

Dolores said...

I love reading the posts where the authors stretch a bit outiside their comfort zone. I think your rolls look great; they're rather reminiscent of ciabatta sandwich rolls.

Georgina Ingham | CulinaryTravels said...

That looks fabulous KJ. Well done.
I wish I had the time to take part in the daring bakers, ah well maybe a little later I will.

George xx

Kajal@aapplemint said...

the bread looks lovely. Well done :D

marias23 said...

Isn't it wonderful how the DBers challenge us to get out of our baking comfort zones? :)

Also, I had the same experience with the dough spilling over when proofing. Great job!

Christine said...

Your bread looks delicious despite the splodgy dough!

Christina ~ She Runs, She Eats

creampuff said...

Nice job on the bread!

Jenny said...

Very well done, even if they didn't come out the way you wanted. Ciabatta potato bread sounds like a great idea!

Kelly-Jane said...

Thank you all for your very kind comments :)

I'll have a looks for the potato scone recipe....

KJxx