Just found out that adding potato to a bread recipe can make it softer and more moist. I'd like to experiment with this. If I were following a recipe that didn't include potatoes, how could I modify it to include potatoes? Do the potatoes need to be a certain percentage of the flour? Do I add more liquids along with the potato? Do I remove some flour and replace with potatoes?
Also, will potato flakes work as well?
You'll want to be careful when trying to modify an existing non-potato recipe.
Potatoes, like any other agricultural product, have a variable amount of starch and water. Some are big, some are small, etc, so it's hard to tell just how much flour and/or water you'd want to replace in an existing recipe without doing some serious lab-testing or trying to remove all the water somehow.
The Non-risky method: Look for published recipes that already have potato added:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/search/node/Potato
The Experimental Method Take a recipe you like that could use a bit more moistness. Throw in a cup of baked potato. Remove a half-cup of flour and 1/4 cup of whatever liquid you're using. You can also try using Potato flour:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/potato-flour.html
Bake that loaf and see what happens. Adjust the variables as necessary, and try it again, carefully documenting what worked and what didn't. If you develop something that you like, publish it so the rest of us can enjoy!
I usually add about 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes to my bread recipes (3 cups of flour). I haven't tried it with potato flakes or potato flour. If you put too much the dough will be very sticky and the bread dense
One large or 2 small potatoes for 1 kg flour, cooked and shredded. 3 3/4 cup of water for heavier Dark Rye/Whole Wheat/white flour combo :-)
Not only will potato flakes work, it's a comparatively good use for them.
I really don't find it all that difficult to wing it - my usual approach of choose loaf size by amount of liquid, mix in non-flour things early, and stop adding flour when it's dough works fine here. If adding potatoes rather than flakes, they are more or less part of the liquid. If using flakes, don't go crazy - use (no more than) about enough flakes to make about as much mashed potatoes as the amount of liquid you are using.
Also, pay attention to results and adjust as needed (that's part of experimenting.)
I use a 5 minute bread recipe which is two tablespoons of yeast, two tablespoons of salt, four cups of water, and eight cups of flour. I like to add sweet potato to my bread, and I use it as liquid, so I use one cup of mashed sweet potatoes and three cups of water and it turns out perfectly; very sweet and moist.
