Roasted-Potato Bread

I set off to make the first of the April breads for the Mellow Bakers. The Mellow Bakers are a group of bread baking enthusiasts who bake some bread each month. A few breads from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread are posted each month and you can bake them and blog about them. If you want. Or not. It is very Mellow.

April's breads are a Rustic Bread, a Medium Rye and Bagels. Some how, I started following the recipe with the roasted potatoes, one page after the rustic bread. So for my first of the Mellow Bakers challenge, I am not baking the right bread. I'm in the neighborhood. The Rustic bread and the Roasted-Potato bread are very similar, the key difference being the roasted potatoes.

Both breads start off with a pate fermentee which is left to ferment on the counter for sixteen hours. The roasted potato bread adds some roasted potatoes. Hamelman recommends roasting the potatoes for added flavor. I love to roast my veggies, it brings out their flavor. I scrubbed and the cut some yukon gold potatoes into chunks, tossed them in some olive oil and roasted them in a 400 degree oven until they were tender, about 20 mins.



The bread flour, wheat flour, salt, yeast, water, roasted potatoes, skins and all and the pate fermentee were combined.

At this point, I have to say that Mr. Hamelman's book is driving me a little crazy. All of his recipes are presented in formulas for 20 pounds, 10 kilos or 2 pound of flour. The 2 pound column is challenging, the measurements for 1 5/8ths, couldn't we just use metrics??? The fractions are a little hard for my eyes, early morning baking will become more challenging. 1lb, 11.2 oz, how sensitive is everyone's scale? Let us all just switch to metrics now please. Metrics 4 US It will be a rough couple of years, everyone will think that they have lost weight when they learn their weight in kg, it will take some adjust, but please let us all switch to metrics. Now.

So, Hamelman is into folding. After 45 mins, the bread was folded and returned to ferment for another 45 mins. The dough was divided, allowed to rest and then shaped. I made a boule and a loaf. The final fermentation was for a little more than an hour. The oven was heated and I forgot to put in my baking stone. I put some boiling water into the pan at the bottom of the oven and baked the breads.

It is a delicious loaf, softer from the addition of the potatoes. Darker from the addition of the potatoes. I'll get this right some time, maybe next weekend.