Poland: Świezy Chleb Kartoflany / Polish Light Potato Bread

It's possible to get into all kinds of noisy arguments about where in Europe the best bread comes from. EuroCuisineLady tries to keep out of these, as her opinion was formed a long time back: Switzerland's bread is best, with Germany's a very close second. But there are some significant "honorable mention" breadmaking countries out there, and one of them is Poland.

In the days when the Celtic Tiger was roaring its loudest and lots of Central European labor was arriving in Ireland to find work in the booming economy, all kinds of little "comfort food" shops started opening up in towns all over the island: shops specializing in the home products of the origin countries of the "New Irish". One of our two nearby shopping towns popped up several of these: a Russian food store, a Czech food store, and at least two Polish ones. The Polish shops quickly became a source for some of the best plain white bread imaginable. Polsky chleb appeared in round domed loaves or long rounded ones: beautiful bread with a thin tasty crust and a gorgeous springy crumb -- substantial but still light.

The Poles like to bake with potatoes as well, making an already good basic product even better. Potatoes in baking help a bread stay moist and keep longer: potato also lends the sliced bread great toasting qualities. This recipe for Świezy chleb kartoflany, adapted from Karen West's The Best of Polish Cooking, uses both mashed potato and some of the cooking water that the potatoes were boiled in.

Home bakers should note that this bread works brilliantly using part of the now-famous Lahey no-knead baking technique. While we did knead the bread according to the basic recipe the first time out, after punching it down and letting it have a half-hour second rise, we then dumped the very light and spongy dough into a small preheated iron casserole and produced the pretty little loaf you see in the picture. A second loaf which had its second rise in a conventional small loaf pan and was then baked right after the first one turned out just as handsomely, producing a loaf with a light crumb and a beautiful crust.

Click on "read more" for the ingredients and the method.   

Ingredients:

• 1 package actve dry yeast
• 1/4 cup potato cooking water (for the yeast)*
• 2 1/2 cups potato cooking water (for the bread dough)*
• 4 or 5 small red or white potatoes, to produce --
  • 1 cup cooked and mashed potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Approximately 6 cups flour, sifted

*Reserve these items from cooking the mashed potatoes

Method:

Peel the potatoes and chop them into large chunks (if the potatoes are small enough, simply halve them). Boil about 1 qt / 1 liter of water (don't salt this water!) and add the potatoes: boil for about 15 minutes or until tender.

Put a colander into a large mixing bowl and drain the potatoes in it. Return the potatoes to the cooking pan and mash them well until smooth.

Allow the potatoes and the cooking water to cool until lukewarm. To 1/4 cup of the cooking water, add the envelope of yeast and stir until dissolved. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the mashed potatoes together with 2 1/2 cups of the potato water, and add the butter, sugar and salt. Mix very well until smooth (a whisk may work better for this than a spoon). One at a time, sprinkle in the first three cups of flour, blending well after each one. Then add the yeast mixture: blend well again, and one at a time (mixing after each one) add the remaining three cups of flour.

Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead for at least 6-10 minutes until smooth, adding just enough flour to make the dough unsticky enough to handle. (If using a mixer and dough hook, knead for about 5 minutes, again adding flour if necessary., though you don't need to add as much as if kneading it by hand.)

Butter a large mixing bowl and put the kneaded dough in it, buttering the top of the dough with a little more softened butter. Cover with plastic wrap / clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise for at least an hour or until doubled in bulk.

When the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide in half. Put each of the halves in a buttered bread pan / loaf tin: cover again and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled again, usually about another 1/2 - 3/4 hour.

About fifteen minutes before the loaves are risen enough, preheat the oven to 375° F. When the loaves are sufficiently risen, put them in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Remove, turn out of the pans / tins, and cool on a rack.

If you're interested in trying this recipe using the last part of the Lahey / no-knead bread technique: Divide the dough into two pieces as in the basic recipe. Put two small iron casseroles and their lids into the oven and preheat on the highest possible heat for half an hour. Remove the casseroles and scoop one portion of dough into each of them: cover quickly and return to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes with the lids on: remove the lids, lower the oven heat to 375° F, and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn out of the casseroles, and cool on a rack.