Rosemary Potato Bread

Yay! It turned out this time, and I'm ready to give you the recipe! I added some garlic powder this time and really liked the final flavor. The recipe I started from is found here.

Rosemary Potato Bread
(yield (3) 8 1/2 inch loaves
or (2) 9-inch loaves and (1) small round loaf
or (3) equally-sized round loaves)

1 cup warm water*
2 TBSP active dry yeast
4 TBSP honey or sugar
6 - 8 cups flour**
1 cup warm milk
4 TBSP melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 TBSP ground rosemary
1 tsp fresh-ground black pepper

Instructions: Dissolve yeast and 2 TBSP sweetener in the warm water. Stir in 1 cup flour and let rise 15 - 30 minutes. In another bowl combine milk, butter, other 2 TBSP of sweetener, mashed potatoes, eggs, salt, and spices. Stir in risen batter. Add flour until your bread holds together and is still soft and slightly sticky. Coat with a few TBSP oil, and let rise until doubled (this dough rises faster than others I've worked with!). Shape into loaves (I have done 2 9-inch loaves and one smaller round loaf--I really like the texture of the bread baked on a pizza stone). Let rise until double again. Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes. Cool on wire racks. I dare you to resist cutting into a loaf while it's still warm!

Cook's Word: this bread has a lovely flavor, made interesting by the occasional bite of black pepper. It makes excellent buttered toast, even five days out from baking. Experimental possibilities with other herbs/spices abound, so be creative!

* Note on water: if you mash the potatoes just for this bread the original recipe suggests saving the cooking water for dissolving the yeast in. I have been using potato flakes, so never had this chance.

** Note on flour: sorry for the inaccurate measurement. I hardly ever measure flour for bread anymore, just adding it in by cup until I get the consistency I want. The original recipe calls for 6 1/2 cups regular flour and 2 cups bread flour. I think my flour supply is bread flour. Also, I have used some whole wheat and some white flour which changes the quantities a little.

Currently eating for lunch:

pumpkin-shaped pasta with broccoli and a creamy white cheese sauce (leftover from last night's soft pretzels). It's actually surprisingly tasty--maybe because of the fresh-ground black pepper I added. Can you tell I've been obsessed with fresh-ground black pepper recently? Getting a pepper grinder really added a new dimension to my cooking. =)