A sticky situation with Potato Bread

Oh the possibilities are endless... should I make a couple of loaves, or rolls, maybe olive rosemary focaccia ... that was the toughest decision about this recipe. I was a little nervous about making bread but the anticipation of eating the finished product far out weighed any anxiety about charting unfamiliar territory. This month's Daring Baker challenge was Tender Potato Bread, hosted by Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups.

First, let me say this was the stickiest dough I have ever worked with. It was a blob of a dough. The dough took a lot longer to rise than I expected. Maybe my yeast was old or I didn't mix in enough flour when kneading. That's if you can call it kneading.

When I "poured" the dough out onto a well floured marble slab I basically had to use a pastry scraper as my right hand, constantly folding the dough on top of itself and adding flour as needed. I did this for over 10 minutes, adding an extra 3 cups of flour to the dough. It was still very sticky but for fear of over flouring I stopped and scraped it into a greased bowl and allowed it to rise. In hindsight I should have used the rest of the flour. The dough would have still been soft but I have a feeling much more manageable.

After about 3 hours it just barely doubled. I gave it another 1/2 hour and it really didn't expand much more, so I figured it was time to turn it out. The dough was still very sticky when briefly kneaded for a second time. I cut 2/3 of the dough off and folded in kalamata olives and chopped rosemary and placed the dough in a loaf pan. I made 4 small round loafs out of the remaining dough and allowed everything to rise for another hour or so.

The loaf and rolls didn't come close to doubling in size this time. They rose, but hardly doubled. I topped with sea salt, chopped rosemary and olive oil then stuck them in the oven for 50 minutes. The top of my loaf got really dark unfortunately and the smaller loaves really browned.

The whole process including rising time and clean up took about 7 hours. I think it took so long because I had to let my dough rise forever - the combined rising time of first and second rise was at least 5 hours. I will definitely make this dough again now that I have an idea what to expect. I know not to worry about adding too much flour, go with what the dough feels like rather than an exact measurement of flour. Maybe use less potatoes. I used 15 oz this time - helping to create the sticky blob. Next attempt I will use closer to 8 oz. of potatoes for a more manageable dough. Also, buy fresh yeast instead of using what I had in my pantry already.

Please check out the recipe for this fabulous bread on Tanna's site. It's out of Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.

corn bread 2 ways

My search for the perfect cornbread recipe has fallen short. We went to a Halloween party and I was asked to provide the corn bread to go with the chili that was being served. So, I dove into my many cookbooks and looked online searching for the perfect recipe. I couldn't decide on one, so I ended up making 2 completely different ones, then we could compare. I found both recipes online, one from a blog and the other from cooks.com and neither one was the corn bread of my dreams....

The first was considered a classic cast iron skillet cornbread. It had a crispy crunchy crust, but was way too dense. The batter was very pourable, almost like a pancake batter. This cornbread was a little bland and not sweet like the second one.

Recipe #1 :

2 c cornmeal
1/2 c sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg lightly beaten
2 c buttermilk
2 TB bacon drippings or veggie oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Put drippings or oil in a cast iron skillet and place it in the oven for a few minutes until it's sizzling.
Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.
Whisk egg and buttermilk together then mix with dry ingredients.
Take cast iron skillet out of oven and pour the hot oil into batter and mix.
Pour the batter back into the cast iron skillet and bake in oven for 20 minutes.
Cornbread should be brown on top and pulling away from the sides of the skillet.

The second recipe was for corn bread muffins with honey butter. This batter was thick enough to spoon into the muffin tins, almost like a cookie dough. (not quite that thick, but you get the idea) The muffins puffed up beautifully and looked gorgeous, but were lacking in flavor. They were on the sweeter side and definitely had more going for them than the first recipe.

The honey butter was the savior for both recipes ! I highly recommend just making the honey butter and having it in your refrigerator at all times.

Recipe #2

2 c flour
2 c yellow cornmeal
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 TB baking powder
2 well beaten eggs
7 TB melted butter
1 c butermilk
1 can creamed corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients together. Then add eggs, melted butter, creamed corn and milk. Beat until smooth. Pour into well greased muffin tins and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. If used in a loaf pan bake for 30-35 minutes.

To make honey butter: Mix equal parts honey and sweet butter at room temperature. Whip until smooth. My friend Maggie of Hello Kitchen suggests using a creamed honey to whip with the butter - it makes for a creamier consistency. I used regular honey and the butter came out slightly gelatinous, but the flavor was perfect.

Cornbread seems like such an easy recipe to make, but what went wrong? After discussion we agreed that a cornbread from a box (oh no) may be the best way to go. If I had to pick between the two recipes, then number two was the winner but I'm still in search of that perfectly crumbly, slightly sweet corn bread of my dreams...