Instructions: Prepare sourdough:
Mix flour with warm water in a LARGE (note ingredient quantities will at least double) bowl. Dissolve yeast and sugar in 3 Tbsp additional warm water in a small warm bowl for 10 minutes; combine and work with the sponge in the large bowl until it becomes very smooth and soft-textured. (This is much akin to the traditional 120 strokes; if beating it with a wooden spoon is too much, use wet hands to lift and stretch the sour in the bowl to develop the gluten). Cover the bowl with heavy cloth (or plastic wrap!) and place in a warm place for 8-10 hours (overnight is fine). It will smell sour and should have dropped - the sponge will rise first to its fullest, and fall back. Dont let a dry crust form on top. If a hard crust forms, soak it with a little warm milk and scrap it from the sides of the bowl.

Make dough
Again, dissolve yeast and sugar in three Tbsp of warm water in small warm bowl for 10 minutes. Mix the mashed potatoes with the starter from last time (Frank recommends drying the starter and this will reconstitute; I confess I keep mine wet in the refrigerator.) Add milk and combine will in a mid-sized bowl. Add to first sponge in the large bowl until it is soft and smooth and has a consistency similar to the first sponge. Add all flour and garlic (or sub 1 tsp. powdered caraway seeds) to the dough. Dissolve the salt into the warm water and mix it with the rest of the ingredients in the large bowl. Work it over really well, till dough is firm and free from dry flour patches.

Add more warm water if its needed for mixing, but dough should not be wet-looking. (It is, however, quite slack!) Sprinkle flour on the dough and cover bowl with damp cloth and place it back to a warm place to rise, about 1 hour.

Uncover the bowl and punch dough down. Work dough over with a wet hand for a few minutes, then sprinkle it with flour again. Cover bowl and place it back in a warm place for 1 hour longer to rise again.

Portion & knead

Take the dough from the large bowl, place it on the counter-top sprinkled lightly with flour. Save 1/2 cup and store in a small bowl (I use a tightly-covered container, refrigerated) for the next batch; divide remaining into six portions. (Now Frank sez this makes 6 18x10x7 cm pans; I translate that to our standard 6x3x2" and its at least 12 loaves of that size in my experience. Remember how much flour you put into this already!!)

Knead each piece and then roll it out with the rolling pin to about 1/2 inch thick. Roll up dough, press ends & bottom seam to seal. (Keep the dough as slack as you can and still handle it; the wonderful texture comes from a pretty "wet" dough.) Place dough in greased pan; repeat until all dough is kneaded and shaped. Cover pans with damp cloth and let rise. (This is lovely as rolls or in baguette shapes as well, and no doubt would bake up nicely in a free-form loaf if you like that approach.)

Bake

Preheat oven to 375*. Beat egg white with 4 Tbsp water in a small bowl. Slash tops of loaves about 1/2" deep, or poke holes with a skewer or ice pick all the way to the bottom lengthwise down the center. Brush thinly with the egg white mixture and place into preheated oven. Place on the bottom of the oven a pie pan filled with 1 cup boiling water (or drop a dozen ice cubes into a hot pan previously placed on the oven floor - be careful of steam either way.) Bake 35 minutes; brush with egg white and remove steam source.

Reduce heat to 325*; bake for 45-50minutes longer, until light brown in color. Test for doneness by rapping bottom of loaves; if not yet done, re-place in oven upside down in the pan to assist bottom in baking. (Sometimes this bread takes much longer to bake fully ... the slacker the dough to begin with, the longer to bake and brown. The egg white helps the browning and produces a beautiful glaze, but you can leave it out and still get fine bread.) Remove from pans and place on a rack; brush again with egg white mixture while still very hot. Cool before slicing. Frank: "Now you can enjoy a real European bread." Carolyn: and enjoy and enjoy! Fabulous toasted and for sandwiches. Be careful, its even better with butter.

NOTES : Says Frank: I am making this bread in the old fashion way for years. My father was a master baker in Hungary. He give me his secret, how to make this potato, sour, crusty bread, that stays fresh for many days! My family and friends just loves it. It was a little hard to find the right flour. Now it is available.

Says Carolyn: I have translated into US measurements from metric, and added some clarity where I found the original instructions a little sparse. Its grand bread, makes a ton, have extra pans handy! NB: the yeast and salt measurements are NOT typos! Frank wisely suggests that you check how many pans will fit into your oven BEFORE you start the recipe.

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