In the nick of time

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I made it, but just barely! For some reason I thought I had a few more days until the Daring Bakers deadline for this month. Fortunately I saw a post on Eva's blog this afternoon and, after a few choice words, ran to the kitchen and began baking. Luckily for me this challenge was a bread challenge. I feel pretty comfortable with making most breads. I had not however, ever made bread using potatoes in the dough. Our challenge, brought to us by "bread head" Tanna of "my kitchen in half cups" fame, was to make Tender Potato Bread. No big deal, or so I thought before I actually began to make the bread. I must admit working with the potato dough was a bit more difficult than I anticipated. First of all I wasn't really sure if I was using too much/not enough of the potatoes. The recipe said to use 4 medium potatoes, or 8 oz of mashed potatoes. I put my potatoes through a ricer and they came out very fluffy. I measured out 8 oz (and then added a bit more) and added it to the water. My dough was very sticky when I turned it out to knead. I think I should have mixed in more flour before beginning the kneading. The dough rose nicely. Mine was doubled in size in just over an hour. Then the recipe said to knead the dough for a few more minutes and then make your loaves or rolls. This is where I had some trouble. My dough was still very sticky and I found it difficult to get a nice loaf shape. It took a little patience but I did get the dough into a pretty good loaf. With the rest of the dough I made rolls. I topped half with rosemary and left the other half plain.

The only other problem I had was caused by my dirty oven. I used the bottom oven because I was using the top oven as a proof box. The recipe called for the oven to be set at 450. I guess the last time I used that oven I made some sort of fruit dessert that cooked out all over the bottom. All of a sudden my kitchen was filled with smoke and a burning smell. Thankfully the fire alarm didn't go off. After carefully scraping out the bottom of the oven with a spatula, I was ready to bake some bread! I took Tanna's advice and turned the oven down after 10 minutes. I left it at 425 and my bread cooked much quicker than the time stated in the recipe. The finished product was a delicious light flavored, soft bread. I think if I make it again I'd put Asiago or Guyere cheese on top of the loaf.

Woohoo I made it! Just under the wire, baked and posted in record time! Thanks Tanna for a delicious savory DB challenge and for helping me get my oven clean:) Next month I"ll try not procrastinate!

**UPDATE I used my rosemary rolls to make a sandwich for lunch today and OMG it was one of the best sandwiches ever! I used turkey and baby swiss with peach chutney... Wow... The rosemary roll was so good with the turkey and chutney. Now I wish I'd made all my rolls with rosemary instead of half plain:( Oh well I guess it's an excuse to make more!