Potatoes in bread? How to estimate potatoes needed?
Just found out that adding potato to a bread recipe can make it softer and more moist. I'd like to experiment with this. If I were following a recipe that didn't include potatoes, how could I modify it to include potatoes? Do the potatoes need to be a certain percentage of the flour? Do I add more liquids along with the potato? Do I remove some flour and replace with potatoes?
Also, will potato flakes work as well?
Best Answer
You'll want to be careful when trying to modify an existing non-potato recipe.
Potatoes, like any other agricultural product, have a variable amount of starch and water. Some are big, some are small, etc, so it's hard to tell just how much flour and/or water you'd want to replace in an existing recipe without doing some serious lab-testing or trying to remove all the water somehow.
The Non-risky method: Look for published recipes that already have potato added:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/search/node/Potato
The Experimental Method Take a recipe you like that could use a bit more moistness. Throw in a cup of baked potato. Remove a half-cup of flour and 1/4 cup of whatever liquid you're using. You can also try using Potato flour:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/potato-flour.html
Bake that loaf and see what happens. Adjust the variables as necessary, and try it again, carefully documenting what worked and what didn't. If you develop something that you like, publish it so the rest of us can enjoy!
Pictures about "Potatoes in bread? How to estimate potatoes needed?"
What does adding potato to dough do?
Super Moist The potato starches attract and hold more water than wheat starches and helps to increase the moisture content in baked goods. Potato flour, when combined with whole wheat, bread, or all-purpose flour, makes yeast dough easier to shape and handle.How do you add potato starch to bread?
Want to add potato flour to a yeast bread recipe that doesn't call for it? Substitute potato flour 1:1 by volume, for the all-purpose, whole wheat, or bread flour called for in the recipe. We don't advise substituting more than 1/4 cup potato flour in a typical bread or roll recipe calling for about 3 cups of flour.Why does potato bread last so long?
According to the diligent scientists of Cook's Illustrated, the starch from the mashed potatoes allows the bread to stay soft much longer than traditional wheat bread, which starts to turn stale within a day.How do you make homemade potato bread?
MethodBread vs. Potato: What's Worse?
More answers regarding potatoes in bread? How to estimate potatoes needed?
Answer 2
I usually add about 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes to my bread recipes (3 cups of flour). I haven't tried it with potato flakes or potato flour. If you put too much the dough will be very sticky and the bread dense
Answer 3
One large or 2 small potatoes for 1 kg flour, cooked and shredded. 3 3/4 cup of water for heavier Dark Rye/Whole Wheat/white flour combo :-)
Answer 4
Not only will potato flakes work, it's a comparatively good use for them.
I really don't find it all that difficult to wing it - my usual approach of choose loaf size by amount of liquid, mix in non-flour things early, and stop adding flour when it's dough works fine here. If adding potatoes rather than flakes, they are more or less part of the liquid. If using flakes, don't go crazy - use (no more than) about enough flakes to make about as much mashed potatoes as the amount of liquid you are using.
Also, pay attention to results and adjust as needed (that's part of experimenting.)
Answer 5
I use a 5 minute bread recipe which is two tablespoons of yeast, two tablespoons of salt, four cups of water, and eight cups of flour. I like to add sweet potato to my bread, and I use it as liquid, so I use one cup of mashed sweet potatoes and three cups of water and it turns out perfectly; very sweet and moist.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Engin Akyurt, Alexy Almond, Engin Akyurt, Tima Miroshnichenko