Potato Refrigerator Bread

Yesterday was bread day at our house, as I was baking bread for dinner.  The first was Potato Refrigerator Bread, which my family loves.  I've used a recipe from Bread World for years now and it always seems to work great. It was easy and fairly moist. just the really soft bread that the family loves to put butter and jelly on.

The second was Italian Hearth style French bread, using a recipe from my King Arthur Flour Company 200th Anniversary Cookbook that I've had for many years. I actually use King Arthur Flour when I can, as I can now get it from two places locally. It is not enriched and unbleached and I can get the regular or the bread flour, which I use a lot of.  If I cannot get KAFC flour, I will use Hodgson Mill unbleached white flour, which I can find at my local grocer. 

Because I do not have Italian bread or Baguette Pans, I found that I can substitute heavy duty foil triple layered before forming my make-shift baguette pan. A quick call to my Traci to consult with, confirmed she did the same as well.  I continued, and I thought it worked rather well, and the bread still turned out great and the first loaf was consumed in no time!   

 

So even though I don't have the fancy tools, I can still turn out delicious hearth style french bread. I must say, the recipe I use literally takes all day.  I started at  9 a.m. and it was finally ready at 6 p.m.  Please don't let this scare you away from attempting to make traditional Hearth style bread.  It is the whole process of multiple risings that give it the classic French Bread.  I was also busy yesterday teaching the kids, doing laundry, and chasing the baby, so the preparation time could have been much shorter, but it worked out well by the time Honey walked through the door.