If you’re looking for a site with very reliable yeast dough recipes, Bread World is good. It’s run by a yeast company, so they want to be real sure you’ll have good luck and keep buying more yeast. I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but buying yeast in the little packets is a kind of horrible idea. If nothing else, buy the 4 ounce jars they sell next to the packets to save a bit, but way preferably is to go on Amazon, or maybe to Costco or something, and buy it in one or two pound packages for 1/4 the price. Sounds like more yeast than you want, but you can keep a small amount of it in the fridge, ready to use, for up to 6 months, and keep the rest in an air tight jar in the freezer for several years, or until you’ve used it up. So worth it!

Anyways, this particular bread is from Bread World, and was tasty, with a good light but somewhat stiff texture.

Ingredients:

• 3 – 3 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 envelopes (or 4 1/2 teaspoons) rapid rise yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups potato water or tap water*
• 3/4 cup mashed potato**
• 3 tablespoons butter

*If you make mashed potatoes that day, save 1 1/2 cups of the water the potatoes were boiled in. That’s your potato water.

**To use instant mashed potatoes, combine 1 / 2 cup water and 3 tablespoons milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in 1 / 2 cup potato flakes.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. In a separate microwave-safe bowl, combine the water, butter, and mashed potato and heat until very warm (120-130 degrees).

Stir the potato mixture into the flour mixture until your stirring doesn’t turn up any more patches of dry flour, then add 2 cups more all-purpose flour and stir in until very roughly held together.

Using your mixer’s dough hook or your hands, knead 4-5 minutes (8-10 by hand) until you’ve got a soft smooth dough, adding up to another 1/2 cup all-purpose flour if needed.

Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Because there’s so much yeast, and it’s warm, this rises a ton in just that 10 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and roll each half out to an 8X12″ oval on a well-floured surface.

Hah, “oval.”

Roll each half up tightly from a short end, pinching the ends and seams to seal. Transfer, seam-side-down, to a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly.

Someday I will start using a scale, so that my ‘halves’ are even remotely right.

Cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about half an hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

With a sharp knife, cut three diagonal slits in the top of each, and then sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon flour over them.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until well browned and hollow sounding when tapped. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

You can see the swirl from rolling it up a bit, and it makes good sandwich bread. Of course it’s hard to get a chocolate peanut butter fluffernutter wrong!

I start eating a lot more fluff when the weather gets cold, apparently?

I’ll be submitting this to YeastSpotting!

Potato Peasant Bread

A tiny bit adapted from Bread World.

• 3 – 3 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 envelopes (or 4 1/2 teaspoons) rapid rise yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups potato water or tap water*
• 3/4 cup mashed potato**
• 3 tablespoons butter

*If you make mashed potatoes that day, save 1 1/2 cups of the water the potatoes were boiled in. That’s your potato water.

**To use instant mashed potatoes, combine 1 / 2 cup water and 3 tablespoons milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in 1 / 2 cup potato flakes.

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. In a separate microwave-safe bowl, combine the water, butter, and mashed potato and heat until very warm (120-130 degrees).

Stir the potato mixture into the flour mixture until your stirring doesn’t turn up any more patches of dry flour, then add 2 cups more all-purpose flour and stir in until very roughly held together. Using your mixer’s dough hook or your hands, knead 4-5 minutes (8-10 by hand) until you’ve got a soft smooth dough, adding up to another 1/2 cup all-purpose flour if needed. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide the dough in half and roll each half out to an 8X12″ oval on a well-floured surface. Roll each half up tightly from a short end, pinching the ends and seams to seal. Transfer, seam-side-down, to a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about half an hour. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

With a sharp knife, cut three diagonal slits in the top of each, and then sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon flour over them. Bake 15-20 minutes, until well browned and hollow sounding when tapped. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.