This buttermilk potato bread recipe is flavorful, moist, and fluffy on the inside with a golden-brown crust – perfect for sandwiches or toast! Use leftover mashed potatoes to make it even easier.
I used to buy our bread at the store. But one day, I ran out of bread, and I thought that it couldn’t possibly be that difficult to make. So, I attempted my first batch of homemade bread using an easy bread recipe like this one, and while it was good, I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep making my own.
My second batch of homemade bread was potato buttermilk bread. One slice and I was hooked! It was SO delicious, and suddenly I didn’t mind the little bit of work that it took to make.
However, what SOLD me on skipping store-bought bread was this:
Unbleached enriched wheat flour, buttermilk, sugar, yeast, soybean oil, salt, water, wheat gluten, calcium propionate, monoglycerides, calcium sulfate, citric acid, soy lecithin, calcium carbonate, datem.
In a single store-bought loaf of bread, there are more ingredients listed that I DON’T know than I DO know.
Since then, baking bread has been part of my regular routine. I’ve made No-Knead Overnight Artisan Bread, 90-Minute Man Bread, Oatmeal Bread, and even No-Yeast Bread…All of which I know you’ll love, in addition to this amazing recipe for buttermilk potato bread!
BUTTERMILK POTATO BREAD
Not only is this buttermilk potato bread delicious, but it’s also:
- Made of simple, easy-to-find ingredients
- Perfect for toast or sandwiches
- Moist and fluffy, with a tender crumb and airy texture
- Rich, buttery, and slightly tangy
- The most flavorful white bread ever
- Plus, it has a nice firm crust! YUM!
POTATO BREAD RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Here’s what you need to make this homemade potato bread recipe (and I bet you know what all of these ingredients are!):
- Russet Potatoes. Peel and cut into large chunks (or use leftover mashed potatoes – see recipe tips below).
- Unsalted Butter. For rich, buttery bread. Mix with the hot potatoes or use softened butter.
- Buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a richness and tangy flavor to the bread dough.
- Eggs. This is an enriched dough, with butter, milk, and eggs in addition to your typical bread ingredients.
- Sugar. Sugar activates the yeast and gets it nice and bubbly.
- Salt. For flavor!
- Yeast. You want active dry yeast, not instant yeast.
- Bread Flour. All-purpose flour would work too.
- Additional Egg. For the egg wash, which gives you that perfect golden-brown crust.
Psst! If you’re going to add salt, I highly recommend Ava Jane’s Kitchen. You may think all salt is created equal, but unfortunately, 90% of the salt produced around the world contains microplastics (gross, right?). Ava Jane’s Kitchen is an exception. Their salt is 100% microplastic-free, and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!)
INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO MAKE POTATO BREAD
Step 1: In a large pot, boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Drain the liquid and either mash the potatoes in a large bowl with a potato ricer or potato masher, or add the hot potatoes to a stand mixer and mix well with the butter. Alternatively, use 1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes. *
Step 2: Add buttermilk, 2 beaten eggs, sugar, salt, and yeast, and mix the dough ingredients well.
Step 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer, gradually stir in the bread flour until the dough is moist but not sticky. Knead with a dough hook on low to medium speed. Transfer to an oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until it doubles in volume. If you don’t have a warm spot, use the oven with the light on.
Step 4: When the dough has doubled in size, grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Punch the dough down and divide it in half. On a lightly floured surface, form into two loaves. Place them seam-side down in the pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again at room temperature until almost doubled in size.
Note: This makes 2 really large loaves. If you have 3 loaf pans available, you can always split it into 3 loaves instead of 2.
Step 5: Preheat oven to 375F. Brush the top of the loaves with the single beaten egg and bake the loaves until they are a deep golden brown, about 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
*Note: Yeast wants a warm environment. If you’re making fresh hot potatoes for this recipe, add the ingredients in the order listed (the butter, buttermilk, and eggs will help cool the hot potatoes, so they do not kill the yeast). If you are using leftover mashed potatoes, warm the potatoes or the buttermilk first so that your mixture will be warm enough to activate the yeast.
BREAD WITH POTATO RECIPE TIPS
If you have leftover mashed potatoes, you can use them for potato bread. This recipe calls for 2 potatoes, so the equivalent would be about 1 cup of mashed potatoes.
You can also freeze leftover mashed potatoes for future batches of the bread with potato recipe. Just thaw in the refrigerator before mixing up your bread dough.
To freeze buttermilk potato bread, wrap the bread loaves individually in plastic wrap and place them in freezer bags, or slice before freezing to easily pull out the amount of bread that you need.
You can also make this potato bread with freshly ground flour. If you’re interested in milling your own grains or making your own flour, I highly recommend Mockmill. For my full review, check out this post.
TO SERVE BREAD POTATO RECIPES
Cool the potato buttermilk bread for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Then dig in! Here are a few of my favorite ways to serve potato bread:
- Perfect for piling high with sliced turkey.
- It also has the perfect spongy texture for spreading jam, butter, or nut butter because of all of the little nooks and crannies in it!
- Toast a thick slice, slather it with butter, and serve it with The Best Scrambled Eggs for a yummy, easy breakfast.
MACRO-FRIENDLY POTATO BUTTERMILK BREAD
As with most bread recipes, potato bread gets its calories mostly from carbohydrates, with a smaller amount from fat and protein.
To keep your macros on track with your nutrition goals, then, will largely depend on what you serve with the potato bread.
Enjoy a slice with a serving of lean protein, plus plenty of produce, for a balanced and satisfying meal.
BUTTERMILK POTATO BREAD ROLLS FAQS
Can I use leftover mashed potatoes for homemade bread potato recipes?
Yes, if you have leftover mashed potatoes, you can use them for potato bread. This recipe calls for 2 potatoes, so the equivalent would be about 1 cup of mashed potatoes.
Is potato bread gluten free?
As written, this potato bread recipe is not gluten-free, but you could try substituting the bread flour (or all-purpose) with gluten-free all-purpose flour.
What does homemade buttermilk potato bread taste like?
The flavor is so good that Mr. Crumbs asked me to make this instead of buying bread, which I think speaks volumes. And it doesn’t taste like potatoes – they’re just there for the light and spongy texture. Hands down, this homemade bread is a winner. It’s just melt-in-your-mouth delicious!!
Why is potato bread yellow?
The mashed potatoes give potato bread its delightful yellowish hue! You could probably make similar sweet potato breads, which would turn out orange.
Can you make potato bread rolls?
Sure! After the first rise, instead of shaping the dough into 2 loaves, shape it into 18-24 small rolls and place them in a 13×9 pan or on a baking sheet for the second rise. Potato rolls only need to bake for 15-30 minutes instead of the longer baking time for the loaves.
MORE HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPES
- No-Knead Overnight Artisan Bread
- Rosemary Olive Oil Bread
- Soft Buttery Brioche Bread
- Homemade Focaccia
- Homemade Pita Bread
- Light & Fluffy Hawaiian Bread Rolls
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This buttermilk potato bread recipe is flavorful, moist, and fluffy on the inside with a golden-brown crust – perfect for sandwiches or toast! Use leftover mashed potatoes to make it even easier.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: Breads
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 potatoes, peeled and quartered (350g)
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature (113g)
- 4 tsp active dry yeast (12g)
- 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature (454g)
- 2 large eggs, slightly beaten (100g)
- 2 Tbsp sugar (25g)
- 1 ½ tsp salt (9g)
- 6 to 6 ½ cups of bread flour (or all-purpose flour) (780g)
- 1 egg, slightly beaten (50g)
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Drain the liquid and either mash the potatoes in a large bowl with a potato ricer or potato masher, or add the hot potatoes to a stand mixer and mix well with the butter. Alternatively, use 1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes. *
- Add 4 tsp yeast + 2 cups buttermilk + 2 beaten eggs + 2 Tbsp sugar + 1 ½ tsp salt and mix well.
- Gradually stir in bread flour until the dough is moist but not sticky. Using the dough hook, knead on low to medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until it’s doubled in volume, 1 to 1 ½ hours. (If your kitchen is too cold, you can preheat the oven to the lowest setting, then turn it off and place the dough inside.)
- When the dough has doubled in size, lightly grease two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Punch the dough down, divide it in half, and form into two loaves, placing them seam-side down in the pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again at room temperature until almost doubled in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. (If you don’t have loaf pans, you can free-form an artisan loaf on a cookie sheet).
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the top of the loaves with the single beaten egg and bake the loaves until they are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when thumped, about 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- If you have leftover mashed potatoes, you can use them for potato bread. This recipe calls for 2 potatoes, so the equivalent would be about 1 cup of mashed potatoes.
- This recipe makes 2 really large loaves. If you have 3 loaf pans available, you can always split it into 3 loaves instead of 2.
- You can also freeze leftover mashed potatoes for future potato bread. Just thaw in the refrigerator before mixing up your bread dough.
- To freeze buttermilk potato bread, wrap the bread loaves individually in plastic wrap and place them in freezer bags, or slice before freezing to easily pull out the amount of bread that you need.
I want to make this bread abd have no taters just instant what is the amount I use for the two loaves, I see this is an old thread not sure if i will get a response
We haven’t tried this with instant potatoes, but mix up 1 cup of mashed potatoes from the instant potatoes first and that should work.
This was delicious. I used 7.5 cups of flower, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tsp. white vinegar and 2 tsp. Real Lemon lemon juice to give it that sour taste that I like. I only had very large potatoes so I cut the ends of them to make them more like medium potatoes and that was just right. 45 minutes was just right and got the internal temp to 200 degrees. I didn’t care for the darkness of the crust created by the egg wash so in my second batch, I just basted with a little milk and oil whisked together and I liked that better. Loaves were so nice that they almost looked commercially baked. Thank you so much.
I read through the entire post with all comments and didn’t see you mention whether a whole grain flour could be used. I was thinking along the lines of freshly ground whole wheat or einkorn, perhaps sifted. Have you tried it? I’m desperately trying to avoid all white bread for health issues but this has got my mouth watering!