Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-01-24
Potato Bread

Some time ago Mrs. J. G. Train
asked about recipe for potato bread,
and with spuds cheap and wheat
scarce, now is the time, if ever, to
indulge in this article of food. A re-
cent issue of the Weekly News Let
ter, issued by the government at
Washington, contains a series of rec
ipes prepared by Hanna l.. Wessling.
Potato Bread-Straight Dough Method
For four 1-pound loaves, the follow
ing ingredients are required:
3 pounds of boiled and peeled potatoes
2A pounds Of good bread flour.
8 level tablespoOnfuls of sugar.
~ level tablespoonfuls Of salt.
2 cakes of compressed yeast.
tablespoonful of lukewarm water.
Wash thoroughly and boil in their
skins about IL potatoes Of medium
size. Cook them until they are very
tender. Drain, peel and mash them
while hot, being careful to leave no
Jumps. Allow the mashed potato to
cool to sc degrees F., or until luke
warm. To pounds Is solidly packed
h-pint cupfuls) Of the mashed pota-
to, add the yeast, which has been
rubbed smooth in cup with table
spoonfuls Of lukewarm water. TO get
all the yeast, rinse the cup with the
remaining tablespoonful Of water and
add this also to the potato. Next add
the salt, the sugar, and about ounces
of the flour Il scant half-pint Of slfted
-FOUR. Mix thoroughly with the hand,
but do not add any more water at this
stage.
Cover the mixing bowl to avoid the
formation of a crust on top and place
out of the ways Of drafts to rise, where
the temperature cannot fall below 80
degrees F., or be much higher than
SO F. Where the housewife has no
thermometer she should see that the
dough in all the risings is kept mOder-
ately warm, but not up to blood heat.
Any water used in mixing the dough
should be moderately warm, but by no
means hot This sponge, if kept at
the proper temperature, should, after
two hours, become quite light.
To this well-risen sponge, which will
now be found to be quite soft, add the
remainder of the flour, kneading -hOr-
oughly until a smooth and elastic
dough has been formed. The dough
must be very stiff, since the boiled po-
tato contains a large amount Of water,
which causes the dough to soften as
it rises. Do not add water to the
dough unless it is absolutely necessary
to work in the -four. Set the dough
back to rise again Temperature at
about 86) until it has treb1ed in vol
ume, which will require another hour
or two Then divide the dough into
four approximately equal parts, re-
serving a tiny lump weighing 2 Or 3
ounces for an indicator" Shape the
sample into a ball and press it into
the bottom of small tumbler with
straight sides. The glass should be
slightly warmed. Note the volume Of
the ball of dough in the tumbler and
mark the glass at twice this volume.
Mold the four portions into loaves
and place in creased pans which have
been slightly warmed. Place the glass
containing the indicator" beside the
pans and let all rise, under proper
temperature, until the indicator
shows that it has doubled in volume,
then place the loaves in the oven and
bake in a good, steady heat, (400 to
425 degrees F.) for As minutes.
To test oven.-Where no oven Their
mometer is at hand, a convenient test
will be to put a teaspoonful Of -four
in an earthen dish in the oven. If
this flour becomes light brown evenly
throughout, in 5 minutes time, the
oven is right for bread baking. If
the flour scorches in that time, the
oven is too hot