Pooka's Potato Bread

1 c cup mashed potatoes or 1 medium potato cut up boiled with the water saved
2 T yeast
2 T butter, melted
2 T agave nectar
2 t sea salt
1 c butter milk
5 ½ -6 c all purpose flour
¾ c potato water
1 T vital wheat gluten
1 t vanilla
- Cook some mashed potatoes for a meal and plan for about 1 cup extra . I never peel my potatoes unless I have someone I'm feeding that hates the potato skins. I just scrub them well, chop them up into 1 inch or so pieces and boil them in sea salted water ( about 1 t). By the time the bread is baked you will hardly see the potato skins they'll just be barely noticeable flecks in the dough.
- Add agave nectar, yeast and potato water and let it proof in the mixing bowl for 10 minutes. You can use sugar , honey or whatever you have but I prefer agave nectar because it's lower in the glycemic index. The potato water does make a difference, it makes a softer bread.
- Add the butter.
- Then the buttermilk combo.
- Then the potatoes.
Then the sea salt. - Add the vital wheat gluten and vanilla.
- Mix for one minute.
- Add in the flour one cup at a time.
- Once the dough is well mixed (at least 2 minutes) run your mixer for 6 minutes until it become a firm, smooth, elastic dough and the flour is cleaned up from the sides of the bowl.
- Oil the dough with cooking spray and let it rise for and hour.
- Gently punch down the dough (when you're too rough it compromises the quality of the dough).
- Divide in two portions..
- Oil with cooking spray again and let it rise until doubled in two loaf pans.
- Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to and hour