Potato-Rye Bread

1 C lukewarm Water
1 C lukewarm Milk
1 ½ Tbl. Granulated yeast
1 ½ Tbl. Kosher salt
1/3 C Sugar
1 C mashed potato
2 C Rye flour
4 C unbleached all-purpose flour

Combine the yeast and salt with half of the lukewarm water and milk, and then the sugar.
Using a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook, start to mix in about 5 C of the flour (Rye first), and mashed up cooked potatoes. Add in the remaining flour and water and milk slowly, until you get the desired consistency (you may not need all of the water and milk). If you’re making free-form loaves, like I do, the dough should be tacky, but not sticky.
Place the dough in a bowl with a lid, but not airtight. Let the dough rise for about 2 hours.
Separate the dough into two equal pieces. Take one of the pieces of dough, and shape into a loaf. Place the loaf on a bread peel that has been generously dusted with corn meal; or put it in a loaf pan that has been lightly greased. Do the same with the remaining dough. Let the dough rise again for about 40 minutes.
20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450F (with the pizza stone in the oven if you’re doing the free-form method).
Bake for about 25 minutes. The internal temperature of bread should reach 180 F. Allow to cool before slicing.

(Recipe inspired by "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" page 120, and photo courtesy of Pirijo Silver.)