Potato Focaccia Bread!

My sister was living out West for a while and fell in love with trying new recipes and using tons of fresh ingredients (partly because her apartment wasn't the biggest and because fresh produce was in abundance out there). Well she threw this recipe my way. At first I was a little intimidated because I have never made bread from scratch, but had with pre-mixed boxes. So I decided to give it a whirl a few months ago and...it was a HUGE hit! It was soooo good and although it takes a while (I only make it on a day off) to make, it produces so much bread that we easily have enough for the remainder of the week.

Well this past weekend I really was craving some of this bread but didn't want to have a whole loaf left at our house, so I graciously offered to make it for Sunday dinner at Matt's parents' house (where there were 7 adults).

Recipe:
1 package active dry yeast (I think I paid $1 for a 3-pack)
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 oz potatoes (resulting in up to 1 1/2 cups mashed)
extra virgin olive oil
warm water (1/2 cup and 2/3 cup)

Step 1: Peel, chop, boil, and mash potatoes

Step 2:  In small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, stir until creamy. This has a tendency to stick to the bottom of my bowl so make sure you scrape the bottom of your bowl.

Step 3: In larger bowl, combine flour and salt. Make a "well" in the center of mix.

Step 4: Add 1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes and yeast mix into well. Gradually bring a little of the flour into the potato mix to start mixing together. Slowly add 2/3 cup warm water while gradually mixing flour into potatoes. Knead into a ball. ***If you've ever made bread before you know that this is where you start to get really sticky, recommend taking off any rings you're wearing.

Step 5: On a floured cutting board, knead dough for 2-3 min. Flatten dough out a little and invert bowl over dough. Let stand 15 min, then knead another 2-3 min.

Step 6: Drizzle pie place with oil, spread dough in plate

Step 7: Cover with moist paper towel for 1 1/2 hours, dough will rise during this time. After this time, press fingertips into top of dough to create "dimples" and then brush with olive oil.

Step 8: And bake @ 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until slightly golden! Although it's tempting, let bread cool slightly, it'll cut easier.

Tips and Tricks:
* instead of a pie plate use a jelly roll pan for a bigger, thinner loaf. Watch cooking time though because this will cook faster
* top with whatever you wish: seasonings (rosemary, thyme, parsley, etc), dried tomatoes slices, olives, etc
* mix seasonings into loaf while kneading for flavor throughout.

And all the while I was slaving away making this bread, here is how the puppies spent their afternoon, love them!   :)