Mashed Potato Bread

Into a large mixing bowl, add sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 cup of flour. Set aside.

Into a separate bowl, measure out 4 3/4 cups of flour and set aside. Keep 1 additional cup of flour in a measuring cup—you’ll use it for kneading.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add mashed potatoes, water, heavy cream, milk and margarine. Attach a thermometer to the side of the pan. Heat the mixture to about 120 F then remove from heat.

Add 1 cup of the heated liquid to the yeast mixture. Mix on medium speed with a mixer, or thoroughly mix it by hand. Add the remaining 4 3/4 cups of flour and the remaining liquid into the yeast mixture by alternating between the two. Scrape the sides of the bowl often while mixing. Beat in egg. The dough will be ready for the first kneading when it no longer sticks to the side of the bowl.

On a flat surface, using the 1 cup of flour previously set aside for the first kneading, proceed to knead the dough for 5-8 minutes.

Once the dough is kneaded, form into a ball and place it in a large greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled.

Once dough has doubled, remove it from the bowl, punch it down and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Cut and and shape the dough into desired sized loaves. (I got 2 large and 1 slightly smaller loaves of bread.)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place dough into greased pans. Let the dough rise in the pans until nearly doubled. Bake in a 350 F oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until bread is hollow when tapped and light golden brown. Brush with margarine after removing from oven. Cool slightly in pans before removing.

*Tip: For the mashed potatoes… I cooked 4 medium potatoes which yielded 1 1/2 cups mashed. In a pinch you can use instant mashed potatoes or leftover mashed potatoes from the night before.