Monday, November 26, 2007

Daring Bakers challenge - potato bread




Cows and chooks around the world breathed a sigh of relief as this month the Daring Bakers had a savoury theme. There was not an egg or any milk in sight as we made tender potato bread.

This month's host, Tanna (My Kitchen in Half Cups), had thoughtfully provided metric and imperial measures, so this was an easy recipe to tackle. The only ingredient I didn't recognise was "whole wheat flour" but I assumed that is what we know in Australia as "wholemeal flour". The recipe was very straightforward: boil some potatoes and mash, mix with the cooking water, add yeast, wholemeal and plain flour, and then knead. We were warned that the dough was extremely sticky and we would probably need to knead in 1-2 extra cups of flour to get it to the desired consistency. I have made potato bread before (to a different recipe) and I don't remember it being so soft and sticky. Anyway, despite the softness of the dough, it rose beautifully in two hours and was extremely light and airy to touch. Once we reached the point of forming the bread, we were invited to unleash the Daring Baker within and to make the dough in whatever form we saw fit (loaves, focaccia, rolls etc).

I decided to make focaccias. For one topping, I fried up bacon and red onion and spread that over the top. For the other, I scattered sea salt, chopped rosemary and an olive mix over it. Then it was 10 minutes in a hot oven to cook.

Both focaccias turned out beautifully. The texture of this bread was soft and fluffy but the potato lent it a denseness. We ate portions of it after it had cooled a little from the oven and the next day, we heated up some leftovers and filled them with salad. Both worked equally well.

This was a great recipe to try. Like most yeast recipes, it requires time but the recipe was straightforward and easy and the end result was a big hit. Thanks to Tanna for hosting this month and for choosing such an excellent recipe.

18 comments:

Gigi said...

sounds yummy!

glamah16 said...

I love your bacon and red onion combo. Great job.

Unknown said...

looks wonderful, i like bacon in all things

Anonymous said...

I think the bacon and red onion topping for the focaccia might be my favorite yet!

breadchick said...

Great job on this month's challenge. I love the two focaccias and the way you topped them.

Bev and Ollie "O" said...

OMG! I looove olives so seeing that wonderful picture has me salivating! yum!

slush said...

Ive said it before and Ill say it again, the focaccia is really stunning! Im so jealous of you all that made it! Gorgeous!

Miss Ifi said...

*picks all of the olives from your focaccia and starts eating them* that focaccia looks yummy specially because of the olives... congratulations on the challenge!!

Peabody said...

Which only means that next month's challenge will be full of milk and eggs :)
I love all things bacon so that was a great idea.

Anonymous said...

Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Great variations!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Your focaccias look gorgeous! Well done!

Cheers,

Rosa

April said...

Your bread looks great!

Helene said...

I love the bacon on the focaccia Melinda! You did a great job on this challenge!

Deborah said...

Both versions of foccacia sound and look delicious!

Gretchen Noelle said...

The onion and bacon foccacia sounds delicious!

Christine said...

I love your focaccia, all studded with olives -- very pretty!

Christina ~ She Runs, She Eats

Julie said...

Your focaccias look wonderful! I'm not sure if I pluralized that correctly ... anyway, bacon and potato bread sounds like a champion combo! I'll have to try that some time!

Dolores said...

Fabulous focaccia... I'm glad you found success with this one!