Spuds you like

I was lucky enough to attend a Chili Party at an old school friend's house last weekend and thought that some homemade bread would go very well with the Chili. I decided to knock up some Potato and Rosemary Bread as my contribution to the party food.

The first step I took was to lay my hands on six ounces of Potatoes, which is roughly the equivalent to one large potato. I used a large red potato in this instance. I next peeled the potato, cut it into cubes and steamed it until soft for about 15 minutes before mashing it thoroughly. While the mashed potato was cooling in the pan I nipped into the garden and cut four stalks of Rosemary. The Rosemary is a little tough at this time of year but still retains enough flavour to be used in cooking.

I then prepared the rest of the ingredients of the dough by taking a sachet of yeast and a pound of strong white bread flour and mixing them together in a bowl. I then added the mashed potato and the leaves from the Rosemary stalks to the bowl and mixed them well with a metal tablespoon. I then poured half a pint of warm water and two tablespoons of olive oil into the mixture and stirred it together well. Unlike the time when I made Chelsea Buns the ingredients blended together well and I only needed a little flour to stop the dough getting soft and gluing itself to the bowl.

Once the mixing was complete it was time to knead the dough.I first selected an appropriate hard rock album to put on the CD player to get me in the right mood for some serious kneading- this weekend it was Rush's 2007 offering Snakes and Arrows which rocks harder than you would expect for three musicians in their mid fifties. I punched the dough hard until it was flat in the bowl and then turned it over to repeat the pummeling. I then squeeze the dough together into ball and then continued punching it using the same process about five or six more times.

It was then time for a rest and also time to let the dough rise. I went and put the bowl of dough on the front window sill in full view of the sun streaming in through the bedroom window. An hour later I retrieved the bowl and found that the dough had expanded to King Kong proportions. I then put it on a baking tray lined with greased cooking foil and then cut a cross shape in the bread with my knife. Immediately before putting it into the oven I poured a small amount of olive oil into the cross shape.

The cooking of this bread is a two stage process; first you cook it at 210 degrees (if you have a fan oven, 220 if not) for ten minutes and then cook it at 180 degrees (190 for a non-fan oven) for a further 20 minutes.  After it is cooked the bread should be left on a rack to cool as seen in the pictures I took.

I took the bread to the party that evening and the guests and hosts enjoyed it. I found that it was surprisingly light which is unusual for homemade bread and the Rosemary gave it a distinctive flavour without it spoiling the taste of the top quality chili on offer.