I use lots of whole grain flours, as you can tell from many of my blog posts, but I still buy white bread from time to time. When I do buy white bread it is usually potato bread, I just love the soft texture and flavor. I found a few recipes on the internet and modified them to a potato bread recipe I like that uses 100% whole wheat flour, and it is now my favorite bread.
This was also a great recipe to break in the new WonderMix kitchen mixer, which I love especially for the price. I recently learned how to make butter from heavy cream in the mixer, which tasted awesome on the home made potato whole wheat bread.
Remember that fresh milled flour (milled within the last week) is the best for flavor, commercial whole wheat flour from the store will have a slightly bitter taste to it and less flavor.
- 1 cup instant potato flakes (loose, not packed)
- 1½ cups milk
- 1½ cups hot water
- ⅓ cup oil (i like avocado oil from Costco)
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 6¾ cups whole wheat flour
- 1½ Tablespoons yeast (or 4½ teaspoons)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- Add potato flakes, liquids, oil, sugar, eggs, 2½ cups of whole wheat flour, and yeast to the mixing bowl and mix on speed 1 until just combined.
- Add 1 cup flour and pour salt on top of the flour.
- Turn mixer on to speed 1 and slowly add the remaining flour.
- Continue to mix on speed 1 for 7 minutes.
- Let rest dough for 30 seconds before removing.
- Place dough into a large oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 50 minutes.
- Place dough on a oiled counter top and punch down the dough.
- Cut dough in half (or 3rds if making 3 small loaves) and form into loaves.
- Place into oiled bread pans, cover and let rise for 25-30 minutes.
- Bake at 350° for 35-37 minutes (I usually go 36 minutes) until bread top is dark brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 1-2 hours.
- Enjoy fresh bread, this is the most important step.
(main photos were taken by Vanilla Tree Photography, my wife)
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I regularly make my own bread and often search for new and delicious recipes to try, so this whole wheat loaf is perfect for me. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I have saved it make!
Can you taste the ginger?
The secret to adding ginger is to use so little that it doesn’t effect the taste of the bread, about 1/8 teaspoon per loaf.
Just made this today and it is glorious! I opted for 3 smaller loaves to ensure sandwiches would fit in our lunch boxes. 😉 I love how soft and fluffy the potato makes this bread – and easy to slice too. Never thought I could get the lighter crumb of store-bought bread without adding some form of white flour.
One thing to note that others might also find useful since it isn’t written in the recipe – make sure the milk is warmed. I make bread all the time but didn’t think to warm up my fresh-from-the-fridge milk before adding the water and potato. *facepalm moment* I scooped some liquid out before adding the rest of the ingredients and heated it to proof the yeast in. The potato (I used “buds” instead of flakes, which is probably part of the problem) wasn’t readily dissolving in the cold milk, so I ended up with a few bits in the final product – not a big deal. I was more worried that the yeast wouldn’t be able to rise like normal since the dough was cool overall, but I stuck the covered bowl in the oven with the light on to keep it warm and it rose just fine! Thank you for this great recipe – it will be a regular in our house for sure!