Potato and Saffron Bread

Submitted by duonyte

"A beautiful golden yellow loaf with the subtle scent of saffron. This came from a book called "Complete Book of Breads and Bread Machines". I've rewritten the instructions a bit."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 45mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 1 loaf

ingredients

• 8 ounces potatoes, peeled
• 1 teaspoon saffron thread
• 1 egg
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons powdered milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons instant yeast

directions

1. Cook potato. Drain, saving 7 oz. of the cooking water. Mash the potato without any additions and set aside to cool.
2. Put the saffron threads into the reserved hot potato water and let them steep for at least 30 minutes. If you have time, 3-4 hours is better.
3. Place all ingredients in bread machine in order recommended by manufacturer. Set on dough cycle.
4. After cycle concludes, remove and shape into a round loaf or desired shape. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 deg. F.
5. Slash loaf down and across, in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Bake for 35- 40 minutes.
6. Note: I used only a 1/2 tsp of saffron threads, and that was sufficient to create a beautiful loaf. I'm sure more would have been wonderful.

Reviews

[loof751]

Great bread recipe! The saffron flavor is delicate and the potato makes this bread very hearty. I made rolls and let them rise on a cookie sheet so they were a little flatter than they might have been otherwise but tender inside with a nice crust. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[Annacia]

I made this lovely recipe early Christmas morning (gotta love the bread maker!) and made 8 good sized rolls from it. I got gorgeous golden breads by using Yukon Gold spuds along with the saffron. They had a very fine, almost cake like texture and rose beautifully. Spread with a compound butter I made with a few drops of honey and finely chopped fresh poultry herbs (rosemary, sage and thyme) they were nothing nothing short of Christmas perfection. :D

 

[HeidiSue]

This bread is delicious! I actually made rolls and am enjoying one hot with butter as I write this. I adapted this recipe for my kitchenaid mixer. I used saffron powder instead of the threads and I used a little less than a 1/4 tsp because it was powdered and I think it might be stronger in the powder form (not sure). I only let it steep in the potato liquid for 15 minutes. I then poured the liquid into my kitchenaid bowl and added the 1 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast (instead of instant). I let it sit for 5 minutes until it became foamy. Then I added the potatoes, egg, powdered milk, melted butter, honey, salt & 2 cups of flour. Once that was stirred together I changed to the dough hook and gradually added in the rest of the flour in 1/4 cup increments. Then I set the mixer to #2 for kneading and kneaded for 10 minutes. Halfway through the kneading I checked it and it was really sticky so I added an additional 1/4 cup of bread flour. After 10 minutes of kneading I moved the ball of dough to an oiled bowl, turned to coat and covered with plastic wrap and allowed to rise for 1 hour. It doubled in size by then so I punched down the dough and cut it into 16 pieces, formed them into balls and placed them in a greased 9x13 dish. I coverd them again with plastic wrap and allowed to rise for 40 minutes until they doubled again. I baked them for just 30 minutes and they were perfectly browned. I did place a sheet of foil over the top at about 20 minutes so they wouldn't get too browned. The rolls have a crunchy crust on the bottom, slightly crunchy on the top and fluffy in the middle...perfect! I also brushed butter on the top of the hot rolls. The saffron taste was more than mild in mine, so I probably could have added even less of the powder. 16 rolls made a nice size for small sandwiches that my husband will LOVE! Thanks so much.