Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.
After posting about potato rolls last week, I was inspired to dig up my old potato bread recipe (because my box of instant potatoes is still pretty full!). Like a lot of my bread recipes, this one comes from my 1970s Better Homes and Gardens bread book.
My version is fairly modified from the one in the book (somehow the potato cooking method in the recipe never yielded enough potato for me), but the bones of the recipe are still the same.
I made two batches in a single day, one with fresh potatoes and one with instant potatoes. The resulting breads were quite similar, though the dough made with fresh potato was a little stickier and more difficult to handle. Also, I didn’t get the lumps completely out of my fresh potatoes, which meant that the fresh potato loaves had small bits of potato in them (this wasn’t really noticeable in the finished product).
So, I can recommend going either way with the potatoes…use whatever you happen to have on hand, and if you’re looking to make things easier, use the instant potatoes because they’re faster and produce a more manageable dough.
This potato bread doesn’t look a lot like the very yellow commercial versions, but like those breads, it’s very soft. And unlike a lot of homemade breads, these loaves stay soft for a surprising number of days. The loaf I’m squishing in this photo is 2-3 days old.
It’s amazing what a little potato will do.
My whole family loves this bread, and I’m now inspired to try a whole wheat version of it. After all, I still have a pile of instant potatoes to use.
If you have leftover mashed potatoes, this is definitely a great time to use them. But you can also mix up a plain batch of mashed potatoes by peeling, cubing, and boiling them until they’re tender. Then just mash them up without bothering to add the normal mashed potato ingredients, like salt, butter, or milk.
Or you can cook up a little batch of the instant potatoes. So long as you end up with a cup of mashed potato, you’re good.
Somehow, I have very few pictures from the early stages of making this dough. I must have forgotten to grab my camera. It’s nothing like rocket science, though…for this dough, you first combine yeast and warm water. If you cooked fresh potatoes, you can use the cooled cooking water (it should be around 110 ° F).
Then you simply stir in the potatoes, sugar, butter and salt. Once that’s thoroughly mixed up, just add enough all purpose flour to make a soft dough. Depending on the consistency of your mashed potatoes, the amount of flour you’ll need could vary greatly. My fresh potato batch needed significantly more flour than my instant potato batch did, so definitely go by feel. You might need 4 1/2 cups, or you could need an amount closer to six cups, so don’t get hung up on measuring the flour.
Anyhow, your dough should look something like this when you turn it out onto the counter.
And after you knead the dough, it should look like this.
Place the dough back into the mixing bowl (I don’t even wipe mine out. Saves time!), cover with a wet tea towel, and let it rise in a warm place for an hour.
Punch the dough down, turn it out onto your floured counter, and divide it into two pieces. When I shape my dough into loaves, I like to roll it out into an oblong shape and then roll it up, starting from the short side. This produces a loaf with a cleaner appearance inside and out.
Cover the loaves and let them rise for 30-45 minutes, or until they’re puffy looking and doubled in size.
Bake in a preheated 350 ° oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the loaves are lightly browned.
Cool the loaves on a wire rack. Once they’re completely cooled, you can store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature for several days. For longer storage, freeze it in a sealed plastic bag.
We go through loaves of bread pretty quickly around here, but if you have a small household, you may want to slice the bread before freezing it. This way you can easily thaw as many slices as you need without having to defrost the entire loaf.
Potato Bread-makes 2 loaves
Printable Potato Bread Recipe
1 1/2 cups warm water (can use potato cooking water)
2 packages active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons each)
1 cup mashed potato, made with fresh potato or with instant potatoes
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted, cooled butter or oil
1 tablespoon salt
4.5-6 cups all purpose flour
In a mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast; let stand for several minutes. Stir in potato, sugar, butter, and salt; mix well. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 5-8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic, adding flour as needed.
Place dough in bowl, cover, and let rise 1 hour. Punch dough down, divide in half, and shape each half into a loaf. Place in 4×8 inch loaf pans, cover, and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled.
Bake in a preheated 350 ° oven for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.
Today’s 365 post: Everything tastes better under the table.
Tighwad Mom says
Great recipe! Your post really makes me want to bake. It must be a combination of the fall weather and your yummy bread photos!
Moonwaves says
Mashed pototo is so delicious I find it hard to have leftovers. And there are so many delicious things to make with it. It’s on my brain at the moment because I’m going to a friend’s house for film club next week, it’s my turn to bring food and I’m thinking of shepherd’s pie for the meat-lovers. I think I need to go and have a snack, thoughts of pots full of lovely fluffy mashed potatoes are making me hungry.
Bread looks lovely, must add that to the list of things to do some day when I have enough spuds leftover.
Elizabeth L. says
This looks great! We always have mashed potatoes leftover, so this would be a good way to use them up. Would you say this bread is good for sandwiches or is it too soft?
Kristen says
I think it would work for sandwiches, especially the loaf I made with the instant potatoes.
Heather @ The Blessings Pour Out says
This sounds great and it looks easy enough for me to try…I love potato bread. Yum. Thanks for sharing this great recipe. You know, I buy potato bread whenever I see it on sale, but never even thought about making it. I can’t wait!
NM says
Looks good! I just bought some Potato Buds for the potato roll recipe.
Rachel says
My brothers and sister love love love potato bread, so I’m definitely going to try this out the next time we all get together – which happens to be this weekend! (well, 2 out of 3 siblings is close enough.) Thanks!
Ellen says
Thanks for this one. I printed it out, and when my daughter saw it, her eyes lit up…”Ohhhh, POTATO bread!”
Susan@Emperorp says
Oh my Kristen, this was amazing. I am born and bred Irish and adore potatoes in their many guises but it occurred to me that I’ve never eaten potato bread! Well that all changed today. We all loved it. My husband and daughters all wanted it as the bread for their sandwiches tomorrow for lunch. Both loaves are almost gone. There are just enough slices to toast in the morning and taste how it fares in the toast test. I am very optimistic
Thank you for sharing your tried and tested, and very tasty, recipes.
Kristen says
Yay! I’m so glad. And it should make delightful toast.
Viktoriah S says
Just a quick question
Would it be alright if I used Bread flour (I’ve got lots of both but never use the bread flour because I don’t make bread that often) ? Or will the bounciness of the loaf not be be as bouncy than with All-Purpose?
Kristen says
Yes indeed! Bread flour is totally fine and will probably make it MORE bouncy, because bread flour contains more gluten.
Viktoriah S says
Yahoo!! Alright All systems go and I’m ready to make POTATO BREAD today!
Thank you so much Mrs.FG ^_^
Viktoriah S says
It’s a wonderful bread!
Thanks for the Recipe
Erma Kelso` says
I made some and it was an easy recipe Except I put in the dry ingredients and turned around to something else and when I turned back around, I couldn’t remember if I had put in the salt or not SO I put it in and sure enough, as soon as I tasted the bread, I knew I had salted it twice. Oh dang! I put some honey on a couple slices andthe birds got the rest. I am making more today tho and will certainly get it right this time and like I said, it is such an easy recipe. Used my Kitchen Aid mixer to knead it.
Renee @ FeedingOurLives.com says
I’ve been baking a lot of bread the past month and have really enjoyed the process! I have one problem, though: storing it. I’ve been wrapping it in plastic wrap, but that seems to be challenging for my husband (he’s great at many things, but he never seems to fully cover food with plastic wrap). How do you store your bread?
Jenny says
I save bread bags from store bread when we buy it and then use them to store my homemade bread and muffins. Works wonderfully.
Lulu Mascarenhas says
Just put it in a tuperware container Renee. You can also freeze bread, then defrost in a warm oven. It tastes just as fresh.
Dawn Horns says
Made this last night from leftover mashed potatoes. Worked will and tasted great.
Susan Johnson says
It’s rising right now. Can’t wait to taste it!
Tammy says
I made this bread a couple of days ago. It was my very first attempt ever at making bread. It was delicious!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe….I’m looking forward to baking more.
Leanne says
This is a great recipe! Thanks for sharing. Such a delicious bread. Half made a loaf, the other half made a pan of dinner rolls to serve with tonight’s soup supper. Perfect!
Kim says
I can’t wait to try this but I do have one quick question for you. I am trying to figure out calories on this recipe as I am making it for dinner tonight. I just need to know what the serving size is & how many it serves (just one loaf)?
Kristen says
Oh, gosh, that depends how thick you slice the loaf. You could measure your loaf pan, decide how many inches each slice is going to be, and then divide up the calories that way.
Kim says
Thanks Kristen. much appreciated.
Katherine says
This bread was excellent. I had to stop the children from eating it all in one go. Thank you.
Hope says
Hi! I don’t have active dry yeast on hand but only bread machine yeast. Could I make the substitution and if so, how? Thank you!
Kristen says
Yep, bread machine yeast should work fine…just substitute an equal amount.
Hope says
Do I still mix the bread machine yeast with warm water or skip that step? I read somewhere that active dry yeast has to be activated by mixing with water before going into the rest of the ingredients while bread machine yeast does not require this.
If I skip the mixing, what do I do with the potato water?
Thank you for your help, Kristen!
Kristen says
Yeah, you can go ahead and mix it with the water-it shouldn’t hurt anything.
+DONNETTE STAPP says
THIS RECIPE IS SOOO MUCH LIKE THE OTHERS EXCEPT YOURS DOES NOT CALL FOR KNEEDING AFTER FIRST RISING. WHY NOT? BREAD IS ALWAYS MORE SOFTER, TENDER, ETC. IF KNEEDED TWICE. I WILL TRY YOUR RECIPE, AS IS, AND LET YOU KNOW. DONNETTE
Kristen says
I’ve never kneaded my dough twice, and my bread is usually kind of awesome (if I do say so myself! Ha.), but if double kneading works for you, then hey, no need to change it.
Julien says
I’ve made this recipe almost weekly for a month, except I used sweet potatoes instead of white/russet. I’m pregnant and became obsessed with the idea of sweet potato bread but all the recipes I found were all full of sugar and nuts and I wanted something more…. well, bread-y, but that still has sweet potatoes!
I seriously can’t describe how amazing this bread is and how in love with this recipe I am. The bread is soft and tender and oh so good. And really easy too! And the sweet potatoes make it the prettiest fall color. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Roland says
I grew up with turkey salad the day after Thanksgiving (1 cup onion, 1 1/2 cup celery and 2 cups turkey, salt & pepper and mayo) and wanted to make some rolls with leftover mashed potatoes. Wow!! this potato bread recipe is now at the top of my baked bread/roll list.
Julien says
I made this (substitute sweet potatoes for plain) for rolls on Thanksgiving and it made AMAZING turkey sandwiches the next day. I made rolls out of 2/3 of the dough and a small loaf out of the rest. The bread was soft, but could hold up to being sliced and made into a sandwich without cracking or crumbling. Yum. The flavor complemented the turkey too.
Michele G. says
Thank you for this recipe! I tried it last night and it is so yummy!
VS says
Hello! I have a question. Can I prepare the bread the night before I bake it (the next day).
Kristen says
You can do that and put it in the fridge…you can either refrigerate the dough and then shape it and let it rise the next day, or you can shape the loaves, put them in the fridge, take them out and let them warm up the next day (this will take a little while) and then bake them.
Heathet says
I found you through pinterest and I’ve put the ingredients in my bread maker to make the dough. I’m listening to it and my mouth is watering just waiting. Can’t wait to try it.
Sarah says
This bread sounds great! I was wondering if you or anyone else knows how I can convert it for a bread machine. I just started using a bread machine and I love it! So, I’m trying to find lots of good bread machine recipes. Thanks
Kristen says
I don’t know, as I’ve never used a bread machine. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you.
Julie says
I tried this in the bread machine a couple months ago and it was a horrible flop. I’ve been meaning to re-try it, but I’m not great with the bread machine so I’m not even sure how to fix it. Maybe a bit more flour? It caved in in the center while cooking.
Kristen says
More flour could be a possible solution. However, it might be helpful to look for a potato bread recipe formulated specifically for a bread machine. Any potato bread recipe should yield somewhat similar results as far as freshness and softness go, as those are due to the potato.
Chet says
Beautiful loaves! First time ever that my bread-making was successful. Thank you! I made it with bread flour. I will try next time with regular all-purpose and use sweet potato for a change.
Denise says
great bread, im happy to find.
i used to make this back in the 80’s while leaving on remote Alaska island
any chance you know how many carbs are in a loaf?
thank you, i lost my recipe box during move to mainland.
Kristen says
I have noooo idea about the carbs. Except, um, a lot. Bread is just very carbohydate-rich.
Dan D says
BEST!!!! bread ever! When I made this bread, my family was like……..WHAT???? I had to make another batch the next day. French toast?? You haven’t had french toast until you use this bread.
I will say that I went on the low end of the flour. I followed the recipe to the “T” but ended up using only four cups of “bread” flour. AMAZING really AMAZING stuff.
Lisa says
Can I substitute honey for the sugar?? If so, would it be the same amount?
Thank you!
Kristen says
Yep, that’ll work fine!
Lea Shanahan says
If a little is good a lot is better RIGHT? I had some purple potatoes i got at the Farmers Market just for this bread. My son in law makes an artisan bread using home grown purple spuds so I just had to try it too. I ended up with enuff mashed potatoes for 5 batches so I measured out the potatoes for the 3 additional batches and froze them separately in quart freezer bags. The first batch I made I added my own basil and rosemary. I got 3 loaves so HAD to taste test one of them. YUM. The second batch has Basil, Garlic and Tumeric so it has a lovely golden color. The dough is rising, I am thinking of making small round loaves for my dinner party tomorrow night. Potato break is the best.
Jessica S says
Found your recipe on a google search yesterday and made the bread so have fresh bread with our pasta night.. I was able to use most of the leftover potatoes too! SO delicious!
I shared my photo on IG and a friend requested the recipe and made it yesterday afternoon and said it was a hit with her house also!
Thanks!
Kristen says
Yay! That’s so awesome to hear.