Spuds for St. Patrick's with the Bread Baking Babes

Sweetie celebrates a birthday each St. Patrick's Day but this year we celebrated early, on the weekend, so that we could enjoy this delicious bread, brought to us by Bread Baking Babes Kitchen of the Month Kelly of blog A Messy Kitchen. I guess I connect potatoes with Ireland with St. Patrick.

It's made with mashed potatoes...not the side dish which has milk and butter added, just plain boiled, peeled potatoes, mashed with a fork in my case. You add them to the dough while they are still warm.  The potatoes keep the bread moist, adds flavor and makes the texture velvety. The dough also has bread flour for strength, egg and milk (or soy creamer in my case) and salt. Once the first rise is finished, you also knead in some herbs...I used fresh rosemary, minced, but the recipe calls for thyme. I omitted the hard goat cheese called for, too. If you use the goat cheese, real butter, real milk and egg, it gets to be a really rich dough, which is why you need the bread flour...also called strong flour...if you want a good rise. Mine rose just fine in the proofing and had great oven spring, too. My checkerboard scoring on the top was better on one side than the other. If I made dozens I could probably improve on that.

Sweetie really, really enjoyed this bread. It has a soft, melting texture and just a hint of potato flavor. Do try making this and then email Krlly, our Kitchen of the Month, with your results and a photo and she will send you a Buddy badge and include you in the round-up. You have until March 29th. You can find her email on her blog HERE.

Do check out the results that the other Babes have had, too.

Potato, Thyme and Goat Cheese Pavé
world breads from pain de campagne to paratha
makes 1 loaf

500g (4½ cups) strong white flour (I added about 1/4 cup extra since there was no cheese)
50g (¼ cup) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small cubes (I used non-dairy margarine)
250 ml (1 cup + 2 tbsp) warm milk or water (I used soy creamer)
20g fresh yeast or 7g instant (¼oz active dry) yeast
1 tsp sugar
100g (1 cup) plain mashed potato, warm (no added cream or butter)
1 tsp fine salt
1 egg, beaten
150g (2/3 cup) mature goat's cheese, grated (I used NONE)
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (I used minced fresh rosemary)

1 Place the flour in a large bowl, rub in the butter to resemble coarse breadcrumbs.  In a small bowl, mix half the milk or water, the yeast and sugar and leave to stand for 10 minutes until frothy.

2. Make a well in the center of the flour, pour in the yeast liquid and the remaining milk or water.  Add the warm mashed potato, salt, egg and grated cheese and bring together with one hand to form a dough.

3. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic.  Place dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, covered with cling film, and leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

4. Turn out the dough again and knock back to expel the air.  Add the fresh thyme and mix well.  Shape into a rectangular loaf and place on a greased baking tray.  Cover with a damp cloth and return to a warm place to rise for a further 40-45 minutes or until doubled in size.

5. Preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF).  Using a sharp knife, score deep slits in a criss-cross fashion on the top of the bread.  Brush the loaf lightly all over with extra beaten egg (or spray with water and dust with flour for a crustier loaf), then bake on a center shelf for 25-30 minutes until golden.  Che k to see if bread is cooked before transferring to a cooling rack.  Cut into squares to serve.