Mashed Potato Bread

This soft, sweet Potato Bread is brioche-rich and makes both great sandwiches (hello, PB&J!) and simple toast. Sesame seeds on top add an optional but decadent crunch!

Now that we're in the home stretch of the year, our fridge and freezer space has become premium real estate. While cleaning out one of the shelves of our deep freezer, I stumbled on a plastic container of mashed potatoes from our (Canadian) Thanksgiving that I had set aside for baking after the success of my Chocolate Mashed Potato Cake. Turns out I saved way more than I thought, and with the holidays approaching there is no space or need for 5 chocolate cakes lying about!

However, the need for bread at my house is constant. I did a quick Pinterest search and landed on this recipe on Num's the Word. The original bread was white and looked airy and fluffy with a crumb perfect for holding onto a Toast Topper, but my mom prefers her starches whole grain so I swapped the all-purpose flour for whole wheat bread flour. This bread is sweet and almost brioche-like, and I wanted to compliment this flavour (and the nuttiness of whole wheat) with a topping of sesame seeds. The seeds added a delicious crunch as well! I was extremely glad that I doubled the batch, since the leftovers freeze beautifully and my mom couldn't get enough of it. In fact, this recipe (made into rolls) was nominated by my family as the bread dish for our annual Christmas Eve party! I'm sure I'll have plenty of leftover potatoes in the New Year to play with as well, I can't wait to try a few variations like stuffing it with dried fruit, swirling in some jam or even making the bread more savoury with less sugar and some herbs like thyme, rosemary or dill!

When do you usually eat bread? With us it's either a lazy weekend breakfast or alongside a soup or salad with lunch. Comment below!

Mashed Potato Bread
Makes 3 large or 4 medium loaves
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes, ideally unseasoned
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk (I used vanilla flavour) - why do I use soy milk for bread?
1 1/2 tbsp instant yeast
1 cup sugar
9 cups whole wheat bread flour 
4 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup salted butter, melted
1/3 cup canola oil
Sesame seeds, for topping (optional)

1. Combine the potatoes and milk in a large bowl and microwave until warm (not hot).
   Add yeast and sugar, mixing well, followed by half the flour. 
2. Mix well with a sturdy spoon or the dough hook of a stand mixer.
3. Add eggs, vanilla and salt while stirring, followed by remaining flour, butter and oil.
4. Knead until dough no longer sticks to the sides of bowl and is relatively smooth.
5. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let sit for 1 hour in a draft free spot or until mixture is doubled in size.
6. Punch down, recover and let rest for 10 minutes.
7. Grease 3-4 bread pans and set aside.
   Shape dough into loaves, place into the pans and re-cover. Let rise for 40 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350*F.
   Bake for 45 minutes, then tent with foil and bake for additional 20 minutes.
9. Cool 10 minutes in the pans before turning out.