Potato Bread

My mom is a wonderful bread maker. She even won first place in the County Fair for her bread when she was a child (yes, she's been making it that long)! She has tried teaching me how to do it since I was in high school and I just was never able to get it. I especially did not like doing everything by hand, which is how my mom has always done it. So when it came to bread, I just bought it at the store.

A few years ago, my wonderful mother-in-law (who is also a great bread maker) bought all of her daughters-in-law and daughter their own Bosch for Christmas gifts. Lucky me, huh?! I was much more excited to use that to make bread, but still wasn't quite sure how to do it. So I took a class from a neighbor on how to use a Bosch to make bread. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOO EASY!!!

Now that bread making is so easy to do, I've been trying TONS of recipes to find one that I like best. After many, many, MANY tries, I ended up making my own. I wanted something that was still moist and tender after the first day and wasn't crumbly. This is what I came up with that fulfills those components...

Here's what you'll need:

2 T. instant yeast (I like to use saf-instant. When you use instant, you don't have to let it soak and bubble in warm water.)

1 T. salt

2/3 C. sugar

2/3 C. oil

1 C. powdered milk

3 C. warm water

1 C. dry potato flakes

1 egg

8 C. flour

Mix together yeast, warm water, sugar, oil, and egg. Then add powdered milk, potato flakes, salt, and flour. Mix on High with your Bosch to knead for 10 minutes (an no, Mom, this is NOT cheating!).

Look at how beautiful that is!!

If you don't have a Bosch, just knead it with your hands, then let it rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes. Punch down. If you are using a Bosch, you don't have to let it rise the first time, so you can skip that step.

Grease and flour 4 loaf pans. Shape dough into 4 loaves and let rise until loaves come just above the loaf pans (they'll rise more in the oven).

When I do my loaves, I don't really make them into nice and pretty loaves. I just divide the dough into four sections and press each section ito a loaf pan. They aren't the most gorgeous loaves, but that's quick and easy and they look just fine!

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Cool completely before storing in bread bags.

Look at how nicely this cuts!! Hardly any crumbs!

Before the bread cools, and this is VERY important, you MUST cut a few slices to eat straight from the oven with butter and jam or homemade honey butter (which is coming this week!)!!

Oh my YUM! It's really good!!