Mashed Potato Bread

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our, as we usually do, by doing our usual two dinners with each side of the family. It was also Peyton's first major holiday. I think she was just as tuckered out as we were by the end of the night. I love looking up recipe for leftover holiday foods. I found this one on Thanksgiving night. The irony of it all is (is this irony? I feel like I always use that term wrong) we didn't have any leftovers this year. Well, there were leftovers but we didn't take any home, other than ham. The amount of ham my husband eats weekly is reaching a sickening level.... Anyways, since we didn't have any leftovers, I made mashed potatoes last night with our steak tips, so I saved a cup for this.

When I saw this recipe I almost skipped over it. "Real bread" intimidates me. I like my wet breads. You know like banana breads. Recipes that don't require yeast, kneading, rising, punching, flouring everything, etc. I like the "add all of this to a bowl, mix it, and bake it" breads. They make a batter, not a dough, and it's easy-peasy. While this recipe does require yeast, kneading, rising, punching and all that jazzy bread stuff it's still easy. It's also quick, it's not hours of rising, just a half hour.

As I was making this bread I was staring at the disaster that was my counter top. Dan always makes fun of me for being a messy cook. I'm like a toddler you give a marker to. Of course it will end up on their body, the walls, the dog, up their nose....
That's me with flour...and most of my baking ingredients. It's on my hands, in my hair, on my face, some falls on the dogs, it's on the outside of any container near it. I'm a messy baker/cook. If you're gonna get in the kitchen, make it worth it. That's what I say.

That sprinkling of flour used to knead the dough extends far past the edges of my cutting mat....

This recipe was so easy and another one that you will probably have everything you need to make it already in your pantry. I always have potato flakes for mashed potatoes and to thicken soups, so even if we didn't have any leftover from a meal I can whip some up in about 10 minutes. The bread came out fluffy, soft, and tasting of garlic mashed potatoes. I always add minced garlic and garlic powder to our mashed potatoes. The taste of mashed potatoes isn't super strong, but it's there, and it's wonderful. I need to finish this post so I can go eat some more...

The last thing I need to mention is that I found this recipe on Tasty, which runs quick videos of recipes on Facebook and includes the recipe in the comment section. Go check it out if you're on Facebook because they're recipes are always fun and pretty quick.

Mashed Potato Bread
from Tasty

1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup milk
3 tbsp. butter, softened
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
1/2 cup water

1. Add all ingredients, except flour and water, to a bowl and mix well. Slowly add the flour and water, alternating. Mix until dough starts forming a ball. It will still be a bit sticky, but you can sprinkle more flour on it when you knead it.
2. Lightly flour your surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle some more flour on if it's too sticky.
3. Place dough in a bowl and lightly cover. Let sit for a half hour to rise.
4. Halfway through letting the dough sit and rise, preheat your oven to 350.
5. Grease a 9x5 bread pan. Punch down the dough and form into a rectangle. Place into the bread pan.
6. Bake 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy!