100% Wheat Bread (With Potato)

Summers in Chennai can be really bad and it can make one to forget about baking breads. Though I have been baking breads almost every week, I didn’t have any energy to try out a new flavour and blog about the same. Also the yeast too had decided to behave in a very uncanny way. I was not very happy with my last few whole wheat breads. I thought probably it’s got to do with my yeast as it was more than a year old and I just had 2-3 teaspoons left with me. I didn’t want to throw it and open my new pack. So, yesterday, I decided to give another trial to a fully 100% whole

wheat loaf. Decided to add a boiled potato and voila !! What a pretty tall loaf have I got !!! My house was smelling delicious and tempting while the bread was getting baked and cooled.

You can check my other bread loaves by clicking here. As always, I have used my 240 ml cup. Potato adds a substantial amount of moisture to the bread and makes it softer. Please do try this recipe. For those interested, you may check my other whole wheat breads by the autolyse method, tangzhong method, Hokkaido wheat bread and many more. Also, please check the oats potato bread loaf. Please feel free to share your feedback with me either in the blog or through email. Happy baking and enjoy the summer holidays.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 425 gm
• Boiled potato 150 gm (1 potato)
• Salt to taste
• Honey 30 gm (~ 2 tbsp)
• Instant yeast 1 tsp
• Olive oil 2-3 tbsp
• Milk 120 ml (1/2 cup)
• Water ~ 240 ml (1 cup)

Method:

• Boil the potato till it’s soft and tender. You can either cut it into cubes and boil in water or pressure cook it whole till it’s done.
• Mix the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big mixing bowl.
• Grate the potato or mash it finely and add it to the dry flour mixture and mix it thoroughly with your hands.

• Mix the honey and slightly lukewarm milk and add it to the dry ingredients.
• Now slowly add the required amount of water and start kneading.
• The dough will be slightly sticky to begin with.
• Gradually add the oil and knead using the stretch and fold method for a good 12-14 minutes or till the dough becomes smooth, soft and bouncy.
• Transfer the dough into a well oiled bowl and cover the bowl with a moist towel.
• Keep the bowl in a warm place a f allow the dough to double in size. This might take around 25 minutes to one hour or so depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the activity of your yeast. Mine took around 45 minutes yesterday.

• Scoop out the dough onto a clean counter and gently knock out the gases. Knead again for a minute.
• Meanwhile grease a bread tin with oil or butter. I have used my 9 by 3.5 inches tin.
• Further, roll dough into a rectangle using a lightly floured rolling pin and fold it tightly into a log and secure the seams by pinching well.
• Transfer the shaped loaf into the prepared bread tin and cover it with a big dome like lid.
• Allow the bread to rise around one inch above the lip of the tin. Mine took around 30-35 minutes.
• While the bread is rising in the tin, towards the last ten minutes or so, preheat the oven at around 180-190 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Transfer the bread tin carefully into the oven and bake for around 45-50 minutes. If you feel that the top is browning too much, cover the top with a parchment paper or an aluminium foil tent.
• Remove the baked bread from the oven and brush the crust with some oil or butter or ghee.

• Transfer the bread onto a wire rack and allow it to cool completely, preferably over night or for atleast 2-3 hours. You may cover the loaf with a soft and moist muslin cloth while its cooling.

• Slice it gently using a sharp and long serated knife.
• Enjoy it with a nice smear of butter or make sandwiches.

Notes:

• If you are cooking the potato pieces in water, do not throw the remaining water. Use it to knead the flour. The starch content in the water will help the dough to rise well.
• Grate or mash the potato finely, do that there are no lumps.
• Knead the dough gently without pulling too much, which might cause the gluten to tear.
• As each flour absorbs water differently, add water slowly. In hot weather, bread tends to become dry and crumbly. So increase the amount of fat or milk.
• Do not leave the baked bread in the tin for more that 3-4 minutes. Condensation will make the bottom soggy.
• Geese the tin well so that the bread slides out easily from the tin. A well used and seasoned tin works better. So please do not wprryuch if your bread sticks to your tin. You can try using parchment paper while your tin is new. Believe me, once the tin gets seasoned well, the dough won’t stick.
• Home made breads taste good when they are fresh. Try to finish it off in two days. Or refrigerate after one and a half days. Refrigerated bread tends to become a bit dry, but if you toast or grill them, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
• Lastly, do not give up. Yeast is temperamental and each bread has its own story. No two breads (even with the same proportion of ingredients and made by the same person in similar conditions) are same. So keep trying and surely you can master bread baking at home.
• Please share your queries, experiences and feedback in the comments section.