You can do it... at home!: Potato Rosemary Bread Roll with Cheddar Cheese

We were still trying to finish the 5-kg bag of potato S’ dad gave us over a month ago. Before we finished them, we were given another bag of potatoes. Apart from giving these potatoes to our neighbours and our friends, I was on a mission to try using some of these potatoes up.

During the brief cold spell we had last week, I had the idea of potato bread with potato soup. This would easily get rid off almost 2 kg of potatoes (means less potatoes ending up in compost bin, which I hate to see). S wasn’t warmed to the idea as it was too potato overload for him. I followed the woman instinct and pursued the idea without letting him know. Turned out he loved that bread roll with potato soup, without knowing that the bread roll was made with potatoes.

See, you can hardly taste the potato in potato bread even though you know the food well. Potato does, however, enhance the taste and bread tenderness noticeably.

I adapted the recipe from potato and rosemary bread from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker Apprentice cookbook and added cheddar cheese into the roll for extra flavour. Because of the added-cheese (its saltiness), I reduced the amount of salt in the recipe by 40%. This was the first time I experienced how much effect salt can have in the dough fermentation. Fermentation was so much faster than normal (salt slows down dough fermentation). The bulk fermentation only took 1.5 hours at 20°C as opposed to 2 hours at 25°C suggested in the recipe.

The dough hydration looks somewhat low at 57%. However, the recipe contains substantial amount of mashed potatoes, at 33%. Potatoes would release more liquid and moisture into the dough and makes it a little loose.

These rolls were great savoury breads. It was fantastic accompaniment to the soup. It would also make great sandwich rolls and meal accompaniments. Potato and rosemary always work well together. I love the wonderful aroma of rosemary. With cheddar cheese added, it gave extra depth of flavour to the bread.

Here is the recipe…

Potato and Rosemary bread rolls with Cheddar Cheese Recipe

Adapted from Peter Rienhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Makes 12 bread rolls

	Overall Formula	Baker’s Percentage
Bread flour	516 g	100%
Water	292 g	57%
Instant yeast	5 g	1%
Salt	6 g	1%
Black pepper	2 g	0.4%
Mashed potatoes	170 g	33%
Olive oil	14 g	3%
Fresh rosemary	7 g	1.4%
Cheddar cheese	45 g	9%
Total	1.06 kg	205%

Biga Ingredients

Bread flour 120 g

Instant yeast 1 g (1/4 teaspoon)

Water, at room temperature 80 g

Total 201 g

Note: Biga is about 20% of total dough weight.

Final dough ingredients

Biga 201 g

Bread flour 396 g

Salt 6 g (reduced salt to counter the cheese in the recipe)

Black pepper, coarsely ground (optional) 1/4 teaspoon

Instant yeast 4 g (1 1/4 teaspoon)

Mashed potatoes 170 g

Olive oil 14 g

Fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped 7 g (2 tablespoons)

Water 212 g

Cheddar cheese (shredded) 45 g + 15 g for sprinkle on the rolls

Making biga (one day before making the final dough)

Stir together the flour and yeast. Add water and stir until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. Knead for 4 -6 minutes by hand or mix on medium speed for 4 mins. The dough will be soft and pliable, not sticky.

Leave the dough to ferment for at room temp for 2 to 4 hours or until it nearly doubles in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it lightly to degas and return it to the bowl, covering the bowl with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

Making the final dough

Remove the biga from the fridge 1 hour before you plan to make the bread. Cut it into about ten small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

Stir together the flour, salt, black pepper, and yeast into mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add biga pieces, mashed potatoes, oil, rosemary, and water. Stir with a large spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) for 1 minute, or until the ingredients form a ball. Add more water, if necessary, or more flour, if the dough is too sticky.

Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin to knead (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook). Knead for approx 10 mins (or 6 mins by the machine on medium speed), adding more flour if needed, until the dough is soft and supple, tacky but not sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Ferment at room temperature for approximately 1.5 hrs, or until the dough doubled in size (there is less salt in the recipe, hence shorter fermentation time).

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 12 equal pieces, about 85 g. Preshape into balls, and rest for 10 mins. Flatten the dough slightly and fill with cheddar cheese, wrap to enclose the dough and roll it into ball. Continue with the rest of the doughs.