Friday Favorites: Potato Rosemary Bread
As promised, here’s our Potato Rosemary Bread -- a delicious way to use your White Starter from last Friday.
This bread is really a meal unto itself. The potatoes, rosemary, and olive oil are a classic marriage, and the potatoes give the final bread a wonderful moistness. This is a long one, but we promise it’s worth it. Make, eat, enjoy!
1 1/2 pounds Russet potatoes
3/4 cup active White Starter (see recipe from Friday, April 3)
4 1/4 cups bread flour, plus extra flour for preparation
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
Yellow cornmeal, for preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the potatoes on a baking tray, and bake under tender -- about 50-60 minutes. Cool completely, peel the skins, and discard.
2. In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, combine the potatoes, water, and starter. With a dough hook attachment, mix at low speed until the potatoes are slightly broken up (about 2 minutes), then stop the mixer. Add the bread flour, whole wheat flour, oil, and rosemary. At low speed, mix until a firm, but moist, dough is formed (about 4 minutes). Sprinkle the salt over the dough and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. At low speed, mix the salt into the dough for 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and kneed the dough for 8 minutes. Do a window-pane gluten development test. The dough should be smooth and elastic and pull away from the sides of the bowl, and the temperature of the dough should be 78 or 80 degrees. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or container at least twice its size, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a cool, draft-free place until doubled in size (about 4-5 hours).
4. Generously coat 2 cloth-lined proofing baskets with sifted flour, or line 2 medium open baskets with a towel and flour them. Set aside.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each into a round load. Turn each loaf seam-side up; transfer to the prepared baskets. Cover the baskets tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate to rise slowly overnight or up to 12 hours.
6. Remove the loaves from the refrigerator; let come to room temperature (about 1 hour).
7. Meanwhile, at least 20 minutes before baking, place a large baking stone on the center oven rack. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
8. Sprinkle a baker’s peel or the back of a baking sheet with cornmeal. Carefully invert 1 loaf onto the peel; remove the basket. With a lame or sharp knife, lightly score the surface of the loaf in a criss-cross pattern. If your stone is large enough to accommodate both loaves, invert the second loaf onto the peel and remove the basket; score the top. Generously spray the oven with water to create steam, and quickly slide the loaf or loaves onto the baking stone. Close the oven door, bake for 3 minutes. Open the oven door and spray all around the loaf. Close the oven door, bake for 3 minutes. Repeat (about 40 minutes baking time) until the loaf is dark brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and cool completely.