FOOD NEWS
The Unique Ingredient Molly Yeh Uses To Make Bread Extra Fluffy
By Kalea Martin
While some types of bread are crispy on the outside with tons of air bubbles within, others have a pillowy, soft texture. Flour, yeast, and water may be all you need to make bread, but cookbook author Molly Yeh suggests another ingredient that will help you make fluffier bread.
Inspired by the Pennsylvania Dutch culinary tradition of replacing wheat flour with potato flour to get a soft, fluffy potato bread, Yeh discovered that using potatoes brings a similar result in any type of bread. In her original recipe, she used whole potatoes, which she cooked and mashed before mixing with flour, but later updated it to use potato flour instead.
Liquid and kneading activate the protein in the flour, forming gluten that holds the bread together, but too much of it can also toughen the bread. Cooked potatoes are essentially enlarged starch molecules that prevent gluten formation and act as a natural sponge to absorb any water or milk added to the dough, resulting in a softer, fluffier bread.