German Potato Bread Recipe (with Sourdough!)

Sliced sourdough potato bread sitting on a wooden board.

5 from 2 votes

German Potato Bread Recipe (with Sourdough!)

This flavorful potato bread recipe is another one of my go-to sourdough recipes. Adding potatoes to the bread makes it softer, moister, and fluffier and you'll still get that iconic crusty outside that Germans love so much. To make it, you will use the genius combination of boiled potatoes, your unfed sourdough starter, wheat flour, and rye flour in the dough.

This bread is beginner-friendly with easy-to-follow steps. And if you're looking for a bread recipe to taste just like from a German bakery, you're in the right spot. Plus this potato bread is healthier for your gut due to the addition of prebiotic sourdough and it is perfect for an authentic German Abendbrot experience. Try it with Schaller & Weber authentic German sliced and spreadable meats and German vegan patés.

Do you need some help baking with sourdough? Download my free sourdough tips sheet here.

Prep Time20

Cook Time50

Resting Time13 30

Total Time14 40

Course: Abendbrot, Dinner, Frühstück, German Breakfast, German Dinner

Cuisine: German

Keyword: German Bread Recipe, Healthy bread recipe, Potato bread recipe, Sourdough bread baking tips, sourdough bread recipe

Servings: potato bread

Calories: 3052kcal

Author: Author: Sophie Sadler

Equipment

1 proofing basket batard (long loaf) Or use a large mixing bowl lined with a linen towel and dusted with flour.
1 baking lâme To cut (score) your potato bread before baking. You can also use a sharp knife instead.
1 bread slicer I love this bread slicer and every German household owns one. However if you don't want to invest in one, a bread knife will work too.

Ingredients

Preferment (make 12 hours before making main dough):

20 grams unfed sourdough starter see notes in case you have not fed your starter in a long time
100 grams dark rye flour this means 100% whole grain
100 grams water

Main Dough (mix together preferment plus):

200 grams starchy potatoes In America, this will be Idaho or Russet potatoes. Raw and unpeeled potatoes or use about 170 grams of boiled and peeled potatoes.
200 grams dark rye flour OR use 250 g whole spelt flour (spelt absorbs less water, so you will need to add more)
480 grams all-purpose flour
300 milliliters water
10 milliliters avocado oil or other flavor-neutral cooking oil
15 grams salt

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

For the preferment for this potato bread, you will mix together an unfed sourdough starter (unless it's been a long time since you fed it, see note below) with the flour and water from the preferment section. Mix using a fork until the mixture is combined and you see no more dry parts in it, for about 2 minutes. Cover the preferment airtight and let it develop at room temperature until doubled in size, about 12 hours. This process may take longer depending on the temperature and humidity in your room.
20 grams unfed sourdough starter, 100 grams dark rye flour, 100 grams water
When your preferment has about doubled in size, peel, boil and mash the potatoes.
Now add all the other dough ingredients along with your preferment and mashed potatoes to create your potato bread dough. Using the dough hook, knead on the lowest setting for 8 minutes followed by the second setting for another 5 minutes. Cover the bowl airtight and allow to rest at room temperature for 90 minutes. No foldings are needed.
200 grams starchy potatoes, 200 grams dark rye flour, 480 grams all-purpose flour, 300 milliliters water, 10 milliliters avocado oil, 15 grams salt
One hour before baking, preheat your oven to 250℃ (480℉) and place a casserole dish with hot water on the bottom rack of your oven. This will create steam in your oven, which will help with the rising of the bread as well as with the development of the crust.
After the dough has rested for 90 minutes, it is time to shape it. Shape your loaf into a round (boule) or long loaf (batard). It will help to watch the video in case you need help with shaping. I also included some notes on the bottom of this recipe.
Place your shaped loaf, seam side up, in either a linen-lined and flour-dusted bowl or a flour-dusted proofing basket.
Cover it with a clean linen towel and let it sit for 30 more minutes.
Turn your loaf seam side down onto a baking sheet covered with either parchment paper or lined with a silicone baking mat.
Now it's time to make some simple cuts (called scoring), which helps your loaf to expand in designated spaces instead of popping open uncontrollably. No special tools are needed to make those cuts. I have used a knife in the past before I bought a blade (called lâme cutter).
Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake for 10 minutes with steam. Now open door wide to release some steam and lower the temperature to 190℃ (375℉). Bake for another 40 minutes.
Remove the water bowl for the last 10 minutes of baking.
Your loaf will bake for a total of 50 minutes.
Remove the baked bread and place it on a cooling rack for about 1 to 2 hours before slicing.
I used to slice bread by hand, however, I have found that the satisfaction I get from creating perfect slices using my manual bread slicer is unmatched.

Video

Notes

Sourdough Tips

Because this potato bread gets its rising action from a sourdough starter alone, you will have the addictive sourdough taste coming through much more than for example in my sourdough rye bread recipe. This also means that you need to have a very happy and active sourdough starter. So if you're like me, and you sometimes like to forget about your sourdough starter in the back of your fridge, then it's time to give it a good feeding first (or two) before baking with it. Otherwise, you will likely need to let your preferment sit longer than the 12 hours listed in this recipe.

Check out these sourdough discard recipes in case you need them!

Shaping Bread

To get a visual for how to shape your potato bread, it's easiest to watch this quick video. The shaping action will start around the 15 second mark. For a round loaf, you will pull the sides of the dough over the top, while rotating the dough to repeat this step. Do this as many times as it takes to work the entire loaf once. In my case, this means three times. The seam side will be up and this is how you will place it in your flour-dusted proofing basket.

For a long loaf (batard), you will first shape a round loaf and then squeeze the sides of the dough to elongate it. The seam side will be up and this is how you will place it in your flour-dusted proofing basket.

Roasted Garlic Version

I just made a loaf with roasted garlic and oh my heavens!! If you're into garlic, you've got to try it! Taking one garlic bulb, cut off the tips of the cloves of garlic opposite the root end, drizzle with a little avocado oil, and either wrap in foil or place in an oven-safe ramekin or jar with a lid. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) for 40 minutes. Your house will smell like a garlic oasis. If you would like, you could bake a bunch of garlic at once to make the energy bill more feasible, or add your garlic to the oven when you're already cooking something else in it. Once roasted, allow to rest for 10 minutes or longer until cool enough to handle. Squeeze from the root end of the bulb to get all the roasted garlic out. Then reserve the roasted garlic from one bulb for when you're kneading together your main dough ingredients and follow the recipe per the steps.

Nutrition