Maggie's Potato Flake Sourdough Bread

This is a fantastic and easy bread to bake at home. The general recipe came to us from a good friend in early Fall 2020.

We use a starter culture that contains dehydrated potato flakes. You can use your existing sourdough starter. Or create one using potato flakes: just add 1-2 grams of flakes to your feedings for a few days before using it.

This bread does not require traditional kneading or the stretch-and-fold you would do with our sourdough recipes. Instead, I learned a very gentle method from professional baker & author Dan Lepard -- it is described below.

Yield: Two 900 gram loaves

Ingredients

The Leaven (Levain)

• 150 grams King Arthur all-purpose flour

• 6 grams potato flakes

• 150 grams room temperature water

• 50-60 grams sourdough culture

The Dough

• 900 grams King Arthur bread flour (see notes below)

• 450-455 grams warm water

• 54 grams sugar

• 18 grams Kosher salt

• 50 grams vegetable oil

• All of the levain

This is a 24-hour process. We create the leaven early afternoon, assemble the dough late evening, split the dough first thing in the morning, then bake midday/early afternoon. Feel free to adjust the timeline to your schedule and lifestyle.

Day 1 - Create the leaven (6-8 hour fermentation)

1. Mix together the all-purpose flour, potato flakes, water then add the starter culture.

2. Cover, leave out at room temperature.

Day 2 - Assemble the dough

1. Mix together the bread flour, salt, and sugar in a work bowl.

2. Scrape the levain into the warm water then mix gently. Add the vegetable oil, mix again.

3. Pour the water/levain/oil mix in with the flour then mix until there are no dry bits of flour. Use your hands towards the end of the mixing.

4. Cover the work bowl and set aside for a 10 minutes.

5. See the video below: Place the dough ball onto a lightly oiled surface, gently stretch it into a square then fold top to bottom. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the gentle stretching & folding 6-7 times. Place the dough back into the work bowl, cover, set aside for 10 minutes.

6. Repeat the last step two more times.

7. Cover the dough and let rise until doubled.

8. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a dough knife, cut the dough in half.

9. Gently form the dough into a rectangle. Fold the left & right sides in as you would do for a letter. Repeat for the top & bottom. Roll the dough over and cover for 15-20 minutes.

10. After the rest, gently form the dough into a rectangle again. Fold the right and left sides in as before. Starting at the bottom, roll up the dough, pinch off the edges and form the dough ball to fit your pan.

11. Spray the inside of two loaf pans with PAM and place the bread in seam side down.

Let the dough sit covered at room temperature for 4-6 hours.

Baking

1. Set the oven rack in the middle.

2. After the dough has had a chance to rise, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Gently score the top of the loaves then spritz with water.

4. Slide the loaf pans into the oven then bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the loaves about halfway through.

5. Place the bread onto a cooling rack. Cool 30-45 minutes before cutting into it.

Notes:

• Experiment with different flours

• Our bake uses 550 grams bread flour, 300 grams all-purpose, 50 grams spelt