Spud and buttermilk bread

A few weekends ago, I was invited to a friend's house for a family barbecue, and as is the Australian custom to never go to anyone's house empty-handed, I had to think of what I could take.

So there I was sitting at home after work late on a Saturday, with the barbecue planned for the following day's lunch, wondering what on earth I could take. A quick trip to the fridge revealed nothing exciting; some left-over mashed potato from the previous night, a few cheeses, some yoghurt, olives and pickles and that was about it. No meat or seafood — not even in the freezer. But I couldn't be bothered going shopping, it being so late, and was determined to make something with whatever I had available.

I checked the kitchen pantry; plenty of olive oil, spices, some various flours and some dried yeast, a few cans of beans, but again — nothing that stood out.

Back at the fridge, the leftover potato mash suddenly gave me a fantastic idea. The humble spud, as one of the world's most important foods (especially in the west where it is what rice is to the east!), has been a staple ingredient for centuries and was particularly so for the Andean Indians living in South America, where at 4800m high, corn could not grow. It is said that potatoes were taken to Europe by Francisco Pizarro in the 1500s, but in Europe they were not truly cultivated commercially until the 19th century.

So, I finally came up with the decision to make a home-made loaf of bread made from the left-over spuds, some tapenade and some other dips. Simple.

I planned to make the potato bread dough that night, let it slowly prove overnight in the fridge and then throw it into a bread pan at around 10am, where I'd let it prove again. Then, I'd throw it in the oven at around 11am, pull it out at 11.45am, and arrive at the barbecue at around noon with fresh, crusty, warm, light and fluffy bread with a difference — accompanied with some nice, simple dips, like a tapenade, and a chilli and garlic olive oil dip.

Yeasts react with different starches in different ways. With potato starch, yeast actually thrives and creates this very light and almost cake-like texture which absorbs oil when dipped. You can't really taste the potato in the bread, but you can certainly tell the difference in texture. The bread went down a treat!

The recipe below uses buttermilk, which I didn't have in my fridge, but I substituted with some natural yoghurt mixed with milk, which will give it the same effect. The use of buttermilk in cakes, breads and muffins really improves the lightness, texture and flavour.

This is my basic recipe which you can play around with by adding other ingredients like fried shallots or fried garlic, olives, cheese, dried tomatoes, fresh herbs or even a mixture of all these to enhance and intensify the flavour.

Spud and buttermilk bread

7 cups bread flour

2 table spoon dry yeast

2 large floury potatoes (or about 2 cups left over mash)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup warm water

1 cup buttermilk (or ½ cup natural yogurt mixed with ½ cup milk)

½ cup olive oil

1 table spoon salt

flour for dusting (or an egg glaze)

• If you don't have any left-over mash, peel and dice potato, cover with water and bring to boil until soft and tender. Then mash.

• In a bowl place the warm water, dried yeast, ½ sugar, and a sprinkle of the bread flour. Leave in warm place to activate the yeast, usually about 15 minutes, it will be foaming and bubbly at this point.

• Mean while put potato mash, olive oil, butter milk into a bowl and mix well.

• In another large bowl put the bread flour, salt and remaining sugar.

• Once the yeast mixture is ready, mix into the potato, oil and buttermilk mixture, then add all this mixture to the flour and knead to a soft dough, at least 10-12 minutes.

• Place dough into an oiled bowl and cover (at this point you can just place in the fridge and let slowly prove) or leave in a warm place to prove until at least double in size, usually about 1 hour. After which you knock back the dough, and knead again a few minutes.

• Oil 2 large loaf pans, or one large pot, shape the dough and place in pan, cover and prove again, dust with flour or glaze with egg wash.

• After it has double in size around 20-30 minutes, bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 35-40 minutes

YOUR SAY: What do you take to friends' barbecues or gatherings? Would you try this recipe? Tell us below!