Hearty potato cake North Hessian style

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1,700 g potatoes
• 500 g flour
• 2 cubes of yeast
• 125 ml milk
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 50 g butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 100 ml oil for the mold
• 2 large onions, optional
• 6 slice(s) bacon, optional

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

Recipe from my grandmother

Boil 200g of potatoes in salted water until soft, then mash with a potato ricer and let cool. Sift the flour into a large bowl, make a well in the center, and make a classic starter dough by stirring in some of the flour with a fork. Cover the starter dough and let it rise in a warm place for 15 minutes. In the meantime, peel the remaining potatoes and finely grate them, ideally using a food processor. Place the grated potatoes in a sieve lined with a kitchen towel and press vigorously until no more liquid comes out. Add the potato mixture, the cooked potatoes, the melted butter, the eggs, and the salt to the starter dough in the bowl. Knead into a smooth dough that should pull away from the sides of the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220°C and generously grease a large baking dish with vegetable oil. A cast iron pan is best, otherwise a roasting pan in the oven is suitable. Carefully spread the dough into the pan with floured hands and smooth it down. Spread a little more oil over the dough to make the potato cake crispier. Let it rise for another 15 minutes, about 15 minutes. Then place it in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius (convection oven). After 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to about 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Bake for a total of about 60 minutes, until the potato cake has a crispy brown crust. After baking, turn it out onto a wooden board and cut into pieces. The finished potato cake can be enjoyed warm as a main course, but it is also delicious cold with a cup of coffee. If you want something savory, you can add sliced ​​onions or some bacon to the bottom of the baking pan under the dough. This recipe comes from my grandmother in northern Hesse. Potato cake like this used to be baked there almost weekly during harvest time, back then in a wood-fired oven.