Potato Rosemary Bread

From Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Makes 2 one pound loaves

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup biga

3 cups bread flour

1 ½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper 

1 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped rosemary

¾ cup to 1 cup room temperature water

Semolina flour or cornmeal for baking

First, make the biga. This makes twice as much as you need for this recipe. It keeps for 3 days in the refrigerator if you plan to use it for anything else. It is easier to make this size batch but you can cut in half if you don’t want to waste any and just want and need enough for this recipe. 

Stir together 2 ½ cups flour and ½ teaspoon instant yeast. Add ¾ cup of room temperature water and stir until combined and has formed a shaggy ball of dough. You can also do this with a mixer and the paddle attachment. Next knead the dough for 5 minutes (or using a dough hook and the mixer). The dough should be soft and tacky but not sticky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough, rolling it around to coast it. Cover the bowl and let rest for 2 to 4 hours, until doubled in size. At this point, lightly punch down the dough and place in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 8 hours. This can be done up to 3 days in advance. 

When you are ready to bake the bread, remove the biga from the refrigerator, cut into 10 pieces  and let stand, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour. 

If you premade the mashed potatoes and stored them in the refrigerator, remove these as well and let come to room temperature. Alternatively, if you’ve just made them, be sure they are cooled to room temperature and not still warm when mixing the dough. 

Stir together the flour, salt, black pepper and yeast in a bowl (or in a mixer with the paddle attachment). Add the biga pieces, olive oil, mashed potatoes, rosemary, and ¾ cups of water. Stir together with a large spoon (or paddle attachment in a mixer) until the ingredients come together to form a ball. Add more flour if too sticky and more water (a sprinkle to a teaspoon at a time) if too dry. 

Dust the counter with flour and knead the dough for about 10 minutes (or mix with the dough hook in a mixer for 6-8 minutes) unti lthe dough is soft and supple and bounces back when poked gently with a finger. The internal temperature should measure between 77 and 81 degrees F. 

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough, rolling it around to coat in oil. Cover the bowl and let rest at room temperature for about 2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size. 

Remove the dough and divide into 2 equal pieces (these can also be made into small dinner rolls by dividing into 18 pieces and lessening the baking time.) Shape each piece into a boule. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with semolina or cornmeal. Rest the dough on the parchment paper and cover loosely. Let rise again at room temperature for 1-2 hours, or until almost doubled in size. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the cover from the baking sheet and brush loaves lightly with olive oil. Score the top of the loaves. 

Bake for 20 minutes in the center of the oven then rotate the pan and bake for another 15-20 minutes. If baking small dinner rolls, rotate the pan after 10 minutes and bake for just 10 minutes more. 

Remove and let cool on a rack before slicing and serving.