In my kitchen, we cherish down-to-earth recipes that unite loved ones. I'm excited to share one of our go-to's: sourdough potato chunk bread. This bread, packed with soft potato pieces, is especially good with your favorite soup or as a side to any charcuterie board - because it's so flavorful all on its own!
As someone who loves giving leftover potatoes a delicious second life (like using up mashed potatoes in these sourdough potato rolls), I've cracked the code on making the most of cooked potatoes. Spoiler alert: we're turning them into a loaf of homemade bread!
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Ingredients
In addition to your starter, salt, flour, and water, we're putting to good use some cooked potatoes that haven't been mashed yet.
- active sourdough starter
Use a starter that's been fed in the last 4-12 hours and looks active with lots of bubbles. This will help your bread rise nicely.
- all-purpose flour
You don't have to use fancy flour like bread flour. Regular all-purpose flour is just perfect!
- potato water or milk
If possible, use potato water, which is the water you used to cook your potatoes. Potato water contains potato starch that can enhance the bread's texture and structure, resulting in soft crumb.
If you don't have potato water on hand, use milk to make the bread softer and more tender. Milk also makes the dough moister. If you have whole milk, that's great; if not, use whatever milk you have.
- salt
Just use plain sea salt; it doesn't have to be fancy. Any salt will do as long as you measure it right. Even a little bit of salt is important for the fermentation. Go for natural salt without any extra stuff added.
- cooked potatoes
Any leftover cooked potatoes will work, except mashed ones! We want to keep the potato pieces in our bread. So if you cooked whole potatoes, cubed them, or prepared them in any other way, leave them as they are. We'll roughly mash them later, ensuring plenty of potato pieces remain in the dough!
See recipe card for quantities.
How To Make Sourdough Potato Bread
Roughly mash your cooked potatoes with some milk or the water they were cooked in. Leave some large chunks for texture – no need to mash it all completely.
After transferring your mashed potatoes to a mixing bowl, add salt, sourdough starter, and flour to get a sticky dough. If you want, use a stand mixer with a dough hook to mix it up.
Cover the dough with an airtight material (plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or a plastic bag) and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, do some stretch and folds or coil folds, whichever you prefer. They'll help with gluten development, which is important for the bread's shape and texture.
For best results, do 4 sets of stretch and folds or coil folds, which should take about 1 hour. Keep the dough covered tightly between sets to prevent it from drying out! After all the work, you should end up with a dough of smooth consistency.
After you've completed your folding, let the dough rise for about 5 - 7 hours at room temperature. Make sure to cover it to prevent it from drying out.
Shape the dough: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface.
Pick up one end of the dough, pull it a little, and then fold it over to touch the end on the other side, pressing them together on top of the dough. Do the same with the other two ends that are across from each other. Place the dough into a banneton basket lined with a tea towel and cover it.
Let the dough rest in a warm place. The dough should puff up a bit, but not rise significantly. The second rise will probably take about 1 - 3 hours.
Flip the dough from the basket onto the parchment paper so the floured side is now on top.
Score the dough. Cut a half-moon shape on one side of the dough with a knife. If you like, add some small cuts to make a design on the other side.
Put the dough on parchment paper into a preheated Dutch oven.
Bake the bread in the oven at an oven temperature of 460°F (238°C) for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking for an extra 10 minutes at 440°F (227°C) to achieve a lovely golden brown color.
Let it cool for at least an hour on a cooling rack before you cut into it.
Hint: Choose a heavy bowl for mixing your dough and when you stretch it. I really like this strong ceramic bowl I bought from Amazon (it's the one in the pictures). It's good because it doesn't slide off the counter when I pull and fold the dough, no matter how thick it gets. Plus, it's big enough for me to make a lot of dough at once when I bake several loaves of sourdough bread.
Substitution Notes
Even though different flours need different amounts of water, you can use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour in this recipe. The bread will be even a bit more airy inside, so if you like a very soft, open crumb, go ahead!
You can replace up to 20% of the regular flour with whole wheat flour in this recipe. I wouldn't use more than that because we're aiming for soft bread, and too much whole wheat flour can make the bread too heavy.
Tools You'll Need
- A large mixing bowl
- bench scraper (optional)
- Parchment paper
- Dutch oven
I use this beautiful red one from Lodge, which is available on Amazon. It's on sale half the time, so be sure to check it out if you're looking for one!
- Cooling rack
💭Crucial Success Tips
- Use warm water or milk for best results; the potatoes will mash better that way.
- Wet your hands before touching the dough. This helps stop the dough from sticking too much to your fingers, which is useful since this dough is quite moist (high hydration). Remember to wet your hands especially when stretching and folding the dough. Don't worry if the dough feels very sticky the first time you do this; it's normal.
- The time of bulk fermentation depends on the temperature of your kitchen, so don't be surprised if it takes a bit more or less - always go by the dough and not by the clock. I have a whole post dedicated to sourdough proofing - I strongly suggest you read it if you never seem to know how long to let your bread ferment.
- For a crust with more bubbles, you can add a little water into the Dutch oven to make steam, then quickly cover it.
FAQ
Potatoes are great in sourdough bread for a few reasons.
They keep the bread moist, which helps it stay soft and fresh for longer. This moisture also makes the bread's texture smoother and softer.
Potatoes add a nice, subtle taste to the bread.
They are also good for you, packing vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Plus, because of the moisture they add, the bread doesn't go stale as fast.
Wild yeast and bacteria in sourdough take longer to work than commercial yeast, but you can make things faster by:
- Mixing the dough with ingredients that are warm or at room temperature.
- Letting the dough rise in a warm spot.
- Using more starter, like we did in this recipe.
- Making sure your starter is full of bubbles and using it when it's most active.
More Sourdough Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖Printable Recipe
Sourdough Potato Chunk Bread With Potato Pieces
In my kitchen, we cherish down-to-earth recipes that unite loved ones. I'm excited to share one of our go-to's: sourdough potato chunk bread. This bread, packed with soft potato pieces, is especially good with your favorite soup or as a side to any charcuterie board - because it's so flavorful all on its own!
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (about 80 grams) active sourdough starter
- 180 grams raw potatoes (the weight of cooked potatoes may vary)
- ¾ cup (about 180 grams) potato water or milk
- 2 ¼ cups (about 300 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons (about 8 grams) salt
Instructions
- Roughly mash your cooked potatoes with some milk or the water they were cooked in. Leave some large chunks for texture – no need to mash it all completely.
- After transferring your mashed potatoes to a mixing bowl, add salt, sourdough starter, and flour to get a sticky dough. If you want, use a stand mixer with a dough hook to mix it up.
- Cover the dough with an airtight material (plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or a plastic bag) and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, do some stretch and folds or coil folds, whichever you prefer. They'll help with gluten development, which is important for the bread's shape and texture.
- For best results, do 4 sets of stretch and folds or coil folds, which should take about 1 hour. Keep the dough covered tightly between sets to prevent it from drying out! After all the work, you should end up with a dough of smooth consistency.
- After you've completed your folding, let the dough rise for about 5 - 7 hours at room temperature. Make sure to cover it to prevent it from drying out.
- Shape the dough: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Pick up one end of the dough, pull it a little, and then fold it over to touch the end on the other side, pressing them together on top of the dough. Do the same with the other two ends that are across from each other. Place the dough into a banneton basket lined with a tea towel and cover it.
- Let the dough rest in a warm place. The dough should puff up a bit, but not rise significantly. The second rise will probably take about 1 - 3 hours.
- Flip the dough from the basket onto the parchment paper so the floured side is now on top.
- Score the dough. Cut a half-moon shape on one side of the dough with a knife. If you like, add some small cuts to make a design on the other side.
- Put the dough on parchment paper into a preheated Dutch oven.
- Bake the bread in the oven at an oven temperature of 460°F (238°C) for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking for an extra 10 minutes at 440°F (227°C) to achieve a lovely golden brown color.
- Let it cool for at least an hour on a cooling rack before you cut into it.
Notes
Choose a heavy bowl for mixing your dough and when you stretch it.
Use warm water or milk for best results; the potatoes will mash better that way.
Wet your hands before touching the dough. This helps stop the dough from sticking too much to your fingers, which is useful since this dough is quite moist, Remember to wet your hands especially when stretching and folding the dough. Don't worry if the dough feels very sticky the first time you do this; it's normal.
The time of bulk fermentation depends on the temperature of your kitchen, so don't be surprised if it takes a bit more or less - always go by the dough and not by the clock. I have a whole post dedicated to sourdough proofing - I strongly suggest you read it if you never seem to know how long to let your bread ferment.
For a crust with more bubbles, you can add a little water into the Dutch oven to make steam, then quickly cover it.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 1 Serving Size: 1 small loafAmount Per Serving: Calories: 1427Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 141mgCarbohydrates: 288gFiber: 14gSugar: 15gProtein: 46g
Baking Schedule
The Day Before: Feed the starter
The Next Morning:
- 8:00 AM: Mash potatoes and mix up the dough.
- 8:20 AM: Cover dough and rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch and Folds:
- 8:50 AM: First set of stretch and folds.
- 9:20 AM: Second set of stretch and folds.
- 9:50 AM: Third set of stretch and folds.
- 10:20 AM: Fourth set of stretch and folds.
Bulk Rise:
- 10:50 AM: Let dough rise covered until (at least) 3:50 PM
Shape:
- 3:50 PM - 5:50 PM: Shape dough on a floured surface.
Shape and Second Rise:
- 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Shape dough and let it rest in a warm place.
Bake:
- 6:00 PM - 6:40 PM: Bake at 460°F for 25 minutes with the lid on + 10 minutes at 440°F without the lid.
How To Store Sourdough Potato Chunk Bread
Sourdough bread, in general, stays good for about a week at room temperature, but it tastes best in the first three days. Here's how to keep it fresh:
- Use Cloth or Paper: After your sourdough bread cools down, wrap it in a clean cloth or put it in a paper bag. This way, the bread gets some air and keeps its crunchy crust.
- Avoid Plastic: Don't keep your sourdough in plastic bags because they hold in moisture and make the crust soft. But if you like a softer crust, you can use a plastic bag with the top open or make some holes in it.
- Bread Box: A bread box is also a good choice for storing sourdough. It keeps the air just humid enough so the crust doesn't get too hard.
If you haven't eaten the bread after three days, you might want to freeze it. If it gets dry or stale, you can still use it for things like bread pudding, stuffing, or breadcrumbs.
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End Notes
If anything didn't go as expected or if you tried making this recipe and had trouble, please leave a comment below. I'll do my best to respond. You can also just share your thoughts about how it turned out. I appreciate hearing from you!
HAPPY BAKING!👩🏻🍳
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