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Carolyn Belknap of Shady Shores, Texas shared this wonderful sweet bread with me.
Carolyn says, "This Portuguese Bread is very festive looking. I love it for the
holidays.
Great for turkey sandwiches, and in the rare event any is left over, it makes a great
French toast."
Check out Linda's Bread Making Hints:
Secrets to using the bread
machine, About
yeast in bread making,
Sourdough Starter,
Quick Breads.
Check out all of Linda's great
Bread Recipes
for your bread making.
Portuguese Potato Bread
Recipe Type:
Yeast Bread,
Potato
Yields: 1 large loaf
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1/2 cup peeled and diced uncooked
potato (approximately 1/2 medium potato)
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon shredded lemon peel
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/3 cups bread
flour
3 teaspoons Instant Active Dry
Yeast
3/4 to 1 cup raisins
Cornmeal (optional for dusting pan)
1 beaten egg for glaze
Preparation:
In a small saucepan over low heat, cook diced
potato in the boiling water approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until tender when pierced
with a fork. Remove from heat and drain, reserving potato liquid. Add enough water to
potato liquid, if necessary, to equal 3/4 cup of liquid. Mash potato with fork.
Place mashed potato, 3/4 cup potato liquid, eggs,
butter, lemon peel, sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast in bread pan of your bread machine.
Select dough setting and press start. NOTE:
Don't be afraid to open the lid and check the dough. It should form a nice elastic ball.
Halfway through dough cycle, add raisins. If you think the dough is too moist, add
additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same is true if the dough is looking dry
and gnarly. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time).
When dough cycle has finished, remove dough from
pan and turn out onto a lightly oiled surface. (I use a nonstick cooking spray). Form
dough into an oval, cover with a plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.
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Kneading Dough Hints & Tips:
Lightly dust your work surface with all-purpose flour or bread flour. Place a small mound or a measuring
cup of flour near the work surface as you will use this flour to
sprinkle over the dough as you knead to prevent sticking. Also lightly dust your hands with flour to keep the dough from
sticking to you.
Gather the dough into a rough ball and place on your floured
work surface. When you knead, you will use only the heels of your hands. Push
down on dough with your hand heels.
Fold the dough in half. Turn the dough about 45 degrees and
knead with your hand heels again. Continue to knead, fold and
turn the dough for the required length of time or to the
consistency suggested. I usually knead the dough around 5
minutes. Well-kneaded dough should feel smooth and elastic.
Press your fingertip into the dough; it should spring back. |
Shape dough either into a large baguette loaf or two small round and place on large
baking sheet dusted with cornmeal (I use the silpads instead of cornmeal). Cover with
plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise, approximately 20 minutes.
Oven Rising: Sometimes I use my oven for the rising. Turn the oven on for a minute or so, then turn it off again. This will warm the oven and make it a great environment for rising bread. If you can't comfortably press your hand against the inside of the oven door, the oven is too hot. Let it stand open to cool a bit. Sourdough rises more slowly than yeast bread; Always remember, the longer the rise time, the more sourdough flavor.
Cool or Refrigerator Rise: If I don't have the time
to wait for the rise to finish or I know that I will be interrupted before the
completed rise, I do a cool rise. A cool rise is when the dough is place in the
refrigerator and left to rise slowly over night approximately 8 to 12 hours. I
usually do this after the first rise and the dough has been shaped into a loaf.
As this is a longer rise time, it improves the sourdough flavor in your finished
bread.
Preheat oven to 350° F. After rising, slash
the bread with a bread razor or a very sharp knife making three 1/2-inch
deep diagonal slashes on loaf shape or a cross on rounds. Brush top of
loaves with beaten egg and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. After 15 minutes,
cover loaves with aluminum foil to prevent over browning.
A good check is to use an
instant
digital thermometer to test your bread. The temperature should be between 200 and 210 degrees.
 This
is the type of thermometer that I use in my cooking.
I get many readers asking what cooking/meat thermometer that I prefer and use in my cooking
and baking. I, personally, use the
RT600C Thermometer
(show in the photo on the right). To learn more about this inexpensive excellent thermometer and to also purchase one (if you desire), just
click on the underlined: RT600C Thermometer.
Remove from oven
and place the bread on a wire rack to cool. Let baked loaf cool for 30 minutes before
cutting (this is because the bread is still cooking while it is cooling).
TIPS: Dried
cranberries and apricots can be either substituted for the raisins for added along with
the raisins for a colorful and tasty bread.
Makes 1 large baguette loaf or 2 small round loaves.
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