Susans Irish Potato Bread Food

IRISH POTATO BREAD (IRISH POTATO CAKES OR FARLS)

Steps:

• First, peel the boiled potatoes.
• Use a potato ricer to rice the potatoes, if you have one. If not, just mash them, but your potato bread will come out better if you use a ricer.
• Next, add the butter and salt. Taste the potatoes at this point, add more salt if needed. Then, very lightly mix in the sifted flour. It will come together into a dough very quickly and easily.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured area gently fold over until smooth. Divide into two equal portions and form each into a ball. Roll one ball out to about 1/3″ thick, then cut into quarters with a large knife or cake lifter. Repeat with the second measure of dough.
• Heat a pan or griddle to medium to medium high. When hot, begin cooking the Irish potato bread (do not use oil or butter.) When brown on both sides, place on a clean tea towel and cover.
• These are fully cooked and may be eaten as is, but traditionally, they are fried in the same pan as the bacon was fried in. Decadently delicious is all I can say!

IRISH POTATO BREAD (IRISH FARLS)

Steps:

• Peel and cut potatoes into quarters or large chunks. Add to a large pot of cold water.Bring potatoes to the boil, then reduce to a hard simmer. Cook potatoes until they are tender and cooked through.
• Strain potatoes into a colander and leave to cool.
• When the potatoes are cool enough to handle place in a potato ricer and rice/mash your potatoes into a large bowl.Alternatively use a potato masher and mash well making sure there are no lumps.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl.If you are adding extra ingredients to spruce your Irish potato bread up, now is the time to do so. Further information above or in the recipe card's note section.
• Using a spoon mix ingredients together until it becomes difficult to keep mixing.
• Continue mixing the dough in the bowl with your hands.Check for dough consistency.If you find your dough a little too sticky to handle, add some more flour to make it manageable.
• Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Give it a quick knead until smooth.If you still find the dough a little too sticky add some more flour while kneading.The dough is on the sticky side, but should be manageable with flour dusted hands.Divide the dough into six equal portions and shape into balls.
• Working one at a time place a ball of dough on a lightly floured surface.You can use a clean kitchen bench, or wooden board that has been covered with some baking paper.
• Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough ball to the desired thickness.3mm (one eighth of an inch) for thin, or half a centimeter (just under a quarter of an inch) for thicker bread.
• Cut the rolled out dough into quarters.Alternatively, you can cook them whole for larger pieces of Irish potato bread.
• Place a non-stick frypan over medium heat. Add a splash of olive oil and a dollop of butter.Once the butter has melted add pieces of dough to the pan.Fry on one side until golden, then turn them over with a spatular. Once the other side is golden and the bread is cooked through remove from the pan.
• Place the cooked Irish potato bread on a tray in the oven on low heat to keep warm. Make sure to cover the bread with aluminium foil to stop them from drying out. Continue cooking the rest of the dough. Add more butter and oil to the pan as needed.

SUSAN'S IRISH POTATO BREAD

Steps:

• 1. Boil potatoes until soft; drain, and mash as for mashed potatoes. You can save the drained water and use it for part of the warm water in the recipe. Stir butter, salt, milk, and flour into the mashed potatoes. Add in the egg, well beaten, if desired. Beat this batter until smooth and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• 2. In a stand mixing bowl, mix together the warm water, dry milk, sorghum, 1/2 cup of the whole wheat flour, and yeast. Let sit for 20 minutes.
• 3. With paddle beater, beat in the mashed potato mixture until smooth. Then beat in the rest of the whole wheat flour and the salt.
• 4. Using the dough hook, start blending and kneading in the bread flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Add until the dough becomes very elastic, but is still sticky, not smooth. You would not want to knead it by hand at this point. The amount of flour this will take is totally dependent on the moisture in the potato mixture.
• 5. When dough is elastic but still sticky, cover and place in a warm place for 1-2 hours. I rest mine over a dishpan of hot water. Dough should double in bulk. Punch down and let rise a second time for 1 hour.
• 6. Partway through second rising time, grease 2 large bread pans (or you can use 8-9" dutch ovens with lids). At end of rising time, preheat oven to 375° for bread pans, or 450° for dutch ovens. Divide dough in half and turn into prepared pans. Let dough rise in warm place for 15 minutes while oven is preheating. If using dutch ovens, cover with lid.
• 7. To bake: For bread pans, bake for 30-35 minutes, until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove immediately to rack to cool. For dutch ovens, bake covered for 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake 10 minutes longer. Turn out immediately onto rack to cool. Allow loaves to cool completely uncovered for best crust consistency.

IRISH POTATO BREAD

Steps:

• Please note the above ingredients are approximate. Potato Bread is best made while potatoes are still hot.
• Peel and boil potatoes until tender.
• While hot, mash potatoes well with salt and butter.
• Gradually work in flour in smaller increments until a soft dough forms. Dough should be a little tacky but workable.
• Turn out onto floured surface and knead for about 1 minute.
• Divide and roll into a circular shape about 9" and 1/4" thick.
• Cut into 6 or 8 'farls' (wedges).
• Grill in a hot, greased griddle or pan until well browned on both sides.