When the Bread Surprises You
Jul. 11th, 2006 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaSo, I'm messing around with the recipes from my big bread-machine baking book. After a couple of experiments with various chocolate-y breads, I wanted something more like, um, well, normal bread. So I tried out the Hungarian Potato Bread.
The recipe calls for water, mashed potatoes, salt, a bit of sugar (to feed the yeast), two cups of bread flour, and yeast. I freak out when there's no oil in the bread, because it'll go stale so fast, so I added a tablespoon of olive oil. It wasn't holding together during the mixing, so I added about a quarter-cup more flour, which made it cohesive (even though it was still really soft).
Now, two cups of flour is a one-pound loaf. My bread machine (and, indeed, most modern ones) has settings for a one-and-a-half-pound loaf (three cups) and for a two-pound loaf (four cups); most handmade bread recipes call for six cups and make two one-and-a-half-pound loaves. I set the machine for the baking cycle for a one-and-a-half-pound loaf and accepted that this would be small; I figured after I'd tried it once, I'd adapt it to a larger size.
Ah, no, I won't! The loaf sprang so much during baking, if it had been a one-and-a-half-pounder, it would have hit the top of the machine. This is light. The interior is almost as soft and fluffy as standard sandwich bread, except that it has some actual flavor and texture. It's also quite moist. The top crust is sort of soft, but the sides are quite crispy. There's no milk or egg in the bread, so it should soak both up quite nicely - I can't wait to see what kind of French toast this is going to make.
I'm used to that sort of spring from egg breads, but that's because of the extra protein. The only thing I can think of that would have caused this is the moisture in the potato granules, since the potato certainly doesn't have the protein to hold the loft. At any rate, the recipe has pleasantly surprised me, and I look forward to this the next time I have leftover mashed potatoes lying around.
ETA: Haven't Frenched it yet, but it makes great regular toast - the cut surface browns nicely, and the middle stays moist and fluffy. Huh. Potato is the secret to achieving this level of foofiness without weird additives - who knew?
The recipe calls for water, mashed potatoes, salt, a bit of sugar (to feed the yeast), two cups of bread flour, and yeast. I freak out when there's no oil in the bread, because it'll go stale so fast, so I added a tablespoon of olive oil. It wasn't holding together during the mixing, so I added about a quarter-cup more flour, which made it cohesive (even though it was still really soft).
Now, two cups of flour is a one-pound loaf. My bread machine (and, indeed, most modern ones) has settings for a one-and-a-half-pound loaf (three cups) and for a two-pound loaf (four cups); most handmade bread recipes call for six cups and make two one-and-a-half-pound loaves. I set the machine for the baking cycle for a one-and-a-half-pound loaf and accepted that this would be small; I figured after I'd tried it once, I'd adapt it to a larger size.
Ah, no, I won't! The loaf sprang so much during baking, if it had been a one-and-a-half-pounder, it would have hit the top of the machine. This is light. The interior is almost as soft and fluffy as standard sandwich bread, except that it has some actual flavor and texture. It's also quite moist. The top crust is sort of soft, but the sides are quite crispy. There's no milk or egg in the bread, so it should soak both up quite nicely - I can't wait to see what kind of French toast this is going to make.
I'm used to that sort of spring from egg breads, but that's because of the extra protein. The only thing I can think of that would have caused this is the moisture in the potato granules, since the potato certainly doesn't have the protein to hold the loft. At any rate, the recipe has pleasantly surprised me, and I look forward to this the next time I have leftover mashed potatoes lying around.
ETA: Haven't Frenched it yet, but it makes great regular toast - the cut surface browns nicely, and the middle stays moist and fluffy. Huh. Potato is the secret to achieving this level of foofiness without weird additives - who knew?
