Hungarian Potato Bread

PieSusan

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Hungarian Potato Bread
This recipe is adapted from a bread recipe by George Lang. It is a slack dough but well worth the trouble making. If you bake it on a stone with steam you will get fabulous results. Makes 1 very large loaf.

Ingredients:
1 pound floury potatoes, peeled
3/4 cup of reserved potato water (water you boiled the potatoes in)
2 teaspoons dry yeast or 1/2 of cake yeast
2-3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

Directions:
Boil the potatoes until soft, drain, and reserve 3/4 cup of the cooking water. Mash the potatoes to form 2-1/2 cups smooth and fluffy mashed potatoes. Cool the water and potatoes until they are lukewarm.
Sprinkle the yeast into 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the water in a bowl. Leave for five minutes to bubble. Stir the yeast and water to dissolve. Place the flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well into the center of the flour and pour into it the dissolved yeast.
Use a wooden spoon to draw enough of the flour into the dissolved yeast to form a soft paste. Cover the bowl with a dishtowel and let “sponge” until frothy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes.
Add the mashed potatoes, salt, and caraway seeds to the well. Mix the flour thoroughly with a wooden spoon adding the reserved cooking water as needed to form a soft, moist dough.
Turn the dough out into a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth, shiny and soft, about 10 minutes. This dough is very soft and sticky. Do not add more flour. It is suppose to be soft and sticky. Resist the temptation....resist the temptation.
Put the dough in a clear, lightly greased bowl and cover with a dishtowel. Let the dough rise until double in size, for about 2 hours. Punch down, and let rest for 10 minutes. Put a baking stone in your oven and preheat to 425 degrees.
Shape the dough (still sticky and soft) into a smooth, round loaf. Place on a lightly cornmeal-covered baking pan and cover with a dishtowel. Proof until the dough is risen and springs back slowly when gently pressed with a finger, about 30 minutes.
Dust the loaf with flour. Cut three parallel slashes 1/2-inch deep across the top, then three more in the opposite direction making a criss-cross pattern.
Bake with steam for about an hour—until the bread becomes crusty and it is hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack.


Note: If using the stone, the bread may be done sooner.
 
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