Irish Potato Bread

Why is it I always find a great Irish recipe only weeks after St Patrick's Day? Murphy's Law?



Irish Potato Bread
slightly adapted from from Luke Mangan's At Home and in the Mood

125ml warm water (40 - 43 C)
1 tablespoon dried yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
450g cold mashed potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
500g "00" flour
8g fine sea salt
1 egg, beaten

Put the water, yeast, half of the sugar and about 1 teaspoon of the flour into a small jug. Stir with a fork to mix and set it aside for 15 minutes, by which time it will be frothy.

Put the mashed potato, oil and buttermilk into a large bowl and whisk until incorporated. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, put the flour the remaining sugar and salt. Stir to combine.

Add the yeast mixture to the mashed potato mixture and mix until combined. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and with the mixer on low, mix for 10 minutes.

Turn the dough out into a lightly oil bowl. Rub a little oil on the top of the dough and cover the bowl with cling film and set it aside in a warm place for about an hour, until it has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead it briefly and shape into a loaf shape. Put it into a lightly oiled large loaf pan (about 2 litre capacity). Cover with cling film again and leave it to double in size, about 30 minutes.

Brush the top of the dough with beaten egg and bake for 35 - 40 minutes.