For Day #28 in the BBA Challenge, we made Potato Rosemary Bread.  Just the thought of this combination makes me drool.  If you’re looking for a good use for leftover mashed potatoes, this is about as good as it gets.  This bread goes really well with leftover turkey and dressing and I imagine with most anything especially Italian food.

I’ve really been looking forward to making this bread. I love that it has fresh rosemary in it. I started growing my own herbs this year in my container garden so it was particularly satisfying to be able to use fresh rosemary that I picked from my garden. Now, I just need to keep the herbs alive through the winter.

Paul, from Yumarama Artisan Bread Blog, made this bread a couple of weeks ago and posted a link to some helpful instructions from King Arthur Flour on how to roast a garlic for the most effective flavor and highest yield.  You might enjoy these instructions as well. 

Even though the formula states that the roasted garlic is optional, you don’t want to skip it.  The aroma is heavenly – not to mention the flavor it adds to the bread.

In addition to the roasted garlic, and mashed potatoes, this bread utilizes an overnight biga. For detailed instructions on making the biga, refer to the Italian Bread post. 

The potato rosemary loaves only use 7 ounces (or 1 1/4 cups) of the biga so you should have enough left over to make Pugliese, the next bread in the BBA Challenge.

Here is the finished loaf.  Enjoy!

If you are looking for a recipe for this bread, you might enjoy my adapted version: Potato Rosemary and Olive Oil Rolls with Semolina.

Thanks for joining me this week in the BBA Challenge!

The next bread in the challenge is Pugliese. It also utilizes a biga and mashed potatoes. (page 222 in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice.) 

Happy Baking!

Cathy