Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Potato Bread with Roasted Apples

What goes better with soup than a great piece of bread? This Potato Bread with Roasted Apples is slightly sweet, with chunks of tender apple studding the whole wheat dough.

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Potato breads are some of my favourites - hearty while impossibly tender, they are perfect for sandwiches or morning toast with whatever Toast Topper you fancy. When I saw the Bread Bakers theme for February was Potato, I had the perfect idea pop into my head (which coincided nicely with my baking schedule and on-hand items). 

 For those who didn't grow up with French instruction (and particularly France-French instruction, as opposed to Quebecois, Belgian or Haitian), potatoes are referred to as pommes-de-terre - literally "apples of the earth". Since I had that little trivia nugget stored away for life, I decided to be a bit cheeky with this month's submission and make a "double apple" bread: apples of the earth, with apples of the tree. Using a basic potato bread recipe I had, I set about figuring out how to add apples without making it soggy or compromising the dough structure. My answer: roast the apple chunks. A short blast of heat combined with a preliminary toss in cinnamon sugar draws out just enough moisture so that the apples stay tender, but don't give up their juice in the wrong spot. The rest of the dough was pretty straight forward, with milk-boiled potatoes forming the basis (and the warmth) for the whole wheat flour and yeast. This dough is a pretty vigorous riser, so keep an eye out on it (especially during that second rise) and pop it in the oven early if you see it puffing up too much.

Like most delicious things, the hardest part was waiting for this to cool before slicing into it. It's an important step though, so don't skip it - unless you don't mind torn bread, which doesn't sound all that bad (just not toaster friendly).

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Potato Bread with Roasted Apples

Serves 14
1 large apple, peeled and chopped
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 medium-large Russset potato, about 12 oz, peeled and diced
1 2/3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cold butter
5 cups whole wheat bread flour, divided
1 tbsp instant yeast
  1. Heat the oven to 425°F.
  2. Toss the apples with the cinnamon and sugar.
  3. Spread the apples on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet.
  4. Roast for 10 minutes, until just tender. Set aside.
  5. In a large pot, cook the potatoes in the milk, heavy cream, ginger, salt and sugar until very soft. Remove from heat and mash smooth (you can use an immersion blender for this, just don't over-process).
  6. Transfer the potato mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and stir through. Let cool to 125F (measure with an instant-read thermometer, you don't want to kill the yeast!).
  7. Add 2 cups of flour and mix to combine, then add the yeast and mix in.
  8. Add the remaining flour, one cup at a time, kneading with the dough hook on low speed.
  9. Continue kneading for 8-10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  10. Cover and let rise 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until doubled.
  11. Gently deflate the dough and knead in the cooled roasted apples.
  12. Shape into a tight log and place in a greased 9x5" loaf pan.
  13. Cover with greased plastic and let rise another 40 minutes, or until the loaf begins to crest over the pan. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350F.
  14. Uncover the loaf and bake for 55 minutes.
  15. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.

6 comments :

  1. Very clever, Sarah! Double pomme bread. It looks and sounds delicious!

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  2. This bread looks amazing! I absolutely love the addition of the apples!!

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  3. Love the trivia and this bread sounds positively delicious!

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  4. I'm not sure I could wait but I best this bread is delicious toasted.

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  5. I love the double entendre with this pommes bread. And no, I cannot think of anything better with a bowl of soup.

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  6. The addition of apple sounds interesting!

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Thanks for the feedback!