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SESAME-POTATO BREAD

Use sesame oil for the oil measure in the bread. Roll the dough in sesame seeds after shaping the loaf. This is particularly delicious bread.

Potato Rye Bread

1 good-sized potato, about ½ lb (225 g), pared and cooked

cooking water from the potato

½ cup yogurt (120 ml)

2 tablespoons oil (30 ml) or butter (optional)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)

½ cup warm water (120 ml)

3 cups whole rye flour (385 g)

4 cups whole wheat flour (600 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

additional water, about 1 cup (235 ml)

Rye, wheat, potatoes, and fennel give this long-keeping bread a sophisticated European mood.

Mash the potato. Add enough additional water to the potato water to make 1 ½ cups. Mix together the potato, yogurt, and oil (if used).

Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup warm water.

Mix the flours, salt, and seeds, then stir in the potato mixture and the yeast. Use some of the additional water also, if necessary, to make a very stiff dough. Knead the dough for about 20 minutes, incorporating the extra 1 cup water (or more potato water) gradually as you go along, until the dough is soft, supple, and smooth.

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about ½ inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn’t fill in at all or if the dough sighs, it is ready for the next step. Press flat, form into a smooth round, and let the dough rise once more as before. The second rising will take about half as much time as the first.

Press the dough flat and divide in two. Round it and let it rest until relaxed, then deflate and shape into pan or hearth loaves. Place in greased 8″ 4″ loaf pans, or on a baking sheet dusted with corn meal. Let rise in a warm, humid, draft-free place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint. Bake about an hour at 350°F.

Blustery Buns

1 onion

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons oil (30 ml) (olive is good, or any cooking oil)

1 tablespoon honey (15 ml)

½ or 1 recipe Potato Rye Bread

Chop and sauté the onion and garlic in the oil, cooking very gently so that they turn golden without browning. Add the honey and continue to cook for another couple of minutes.

Let this mixture cool and knead it into the dough for Potato Rye. One medium onion and a small clove of garlic is plenty for some people for two loaves, but if you really like this sort of thing, you could use all the onion in one loaf’s worth of rolls (phew!). In either case, for decorative effect, keep a tiny bit of the onion to smear on the top of the rolls, after shaping. Makes 24 small or 12 giant buns, if you use two loaves’ worth of dough.

Murphy’s Bread

1 cup soymilk (235 ml)

2 tablespoons honey (30 ml)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (10 ml)

1 cup potato water and/or tap water (235 ml)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)

½ cup warm water (120 ml)

5 ½ cups whole wheat flour (825 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

1 cup cooked mashed potato (235 ml)

This non-dairy potato bread is named for the Irish—who take their potatoes neat.

Scald the soymilk and mix in the honey; set aside to cool. Mix lemon juice, potato water, if any, and tap water to bring the quantity to one cup.

Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Mix together the flour and salt, then rub the potato in with your fingers. Pour the liquids into a well in the center and stir the flour gradually into it. Add more water or flour as necessary to make a soft dough. Turn out on the board and knead thoroughly.

Form the dough into a ball and place it smooth side up in the bowl. Cover and keep in a warm, draft-free place. After about an hour and a half, gently poke the center of the dough about ½ inch deep with your wet finger. If the hole doesn’t fill in at all or if the dough sighs, it is ready to shape. Since there is soy in the recipe, the dough should be ripe and ready to shape after