Potato Bread

Experiment #2 with Pinterest bread.  This time I chose potato bread, the tutorial for which you can find here.  It is called potato bread because it calls for potato flakes along with the flour.  Unlike the peasant bread , this dough had to be kneaded and shaped before baking.  It was still quite a simple process, though. 

Until recently, I had always scoffed at potato flakes, thinking them junky.  Not just junky, but unnecessary too - I mean how hard is it to boil a potato?  However, when we first started camping in our trailer a year or two ago, we dipped down to the US of A for a bit.  Not having been very experienced with camping, I was happy to keep a supply of convenience food aboard that could be easily thrown together with a minimum of fuss; Kraft Dinner, pancake mix, hot dogs, etc.  While in the States we were presented with a wide array of varieties of instant potatoes in several flavours and styles, and I though we'd try one for a simple side dish one day.  Instant potatoes turned out to be actually pretty good!  In fact, when you'd mixed in butter and salt, they might even be called delicious!  My then-11-year-old daughter sure thought they were heavenly.  And when you can get a heavenly product without even turning on the stove, why on earth would you ever boil a potato again? 

Though I save the instant flakes for camping (usually) nowadays, I did still have a box of them in the trailer, and I dug it out to give this bread a go. 

I thought the flavour was less potato-y than I had expected, though it does have a hearty, starchy texture without being heavy or dense.  It has a yeasty flavour that goes well with spread or soup.  My loaf looked nothing like the picture on Pinterest, but I changed a few things (of course) and it still turned out.  I would make this bread again, but I might get fancy and try it with real mashed potatoes (maybe leftovers from thanksgiving or something) and see if it tastes more authentic.