“Mary, there is bread enough for the morning; you will bake in the afternoon.”

That’s a line from Act 2 of “The Crucible,” which my students have been reading aloud in class this week.

I guess the power of suggestion is greater than I give it credit for, because I came home this weekend convinced that nothing would do but a loaf or two of hot, homemade bread.

That’s right, reading the play only made me want to bake, not accuse my neighbors of signing the devil’s book or dance naked in the woods. My family is so lucky.

As are my neighbors. And I won’t even mention the horrors I’m sparing the woodland creatures.

Unfortunately for my baking schedule, this was a busy weekend. I took our eldest to an out-of-town audition early Saturday morning and was in no mood to cook by the time we got home.

Sunday afternoon rolled around, and I knew it was my last shot at making homemade bread for a week or so. I looked up recipes for potato bread, which I have finally realized is the bread for me, the one that makes me do the first-bite swoon.

You know the first-bite swoon, right? It’s that involuntary expression you make when you bite into something delicious. It’s that face where your eyelids flutter a bit and your eyes roll back. If you’re southern, you’re required by law to follow it up with something along the lines of, “Oh my gosh, y’all. Here. Try this.”

Not many foods can give me the first bite swoon. Certainly salad can’t do it. For that matter, I’m not sure anybody in the whole history of ever has had a first-bite swoon in response to a healthy food.

Even bread can’t always do it. I made some rolls for Thanksgiving last year, and our middle daughter loved them so much that she asked for more for her birthday this year.

I made them. We ate them. But they were only OK. They were not swoon-worthy.

I was frustrated. It took me a few weeks to remember that the Thanksgiving rolls had been made with a potato bread recipe.

The potato in the dough keeps the end product sweet, soft, and dense. While I love the chewy tang of a sourdough and the heartiness of plain old French bread, those breads do not make a sandwich or a roll taste the way potato dough does.

I found this recipe online from King Arthur Flour. It called for mixing and kneading the dough, followed by an overnight refrigerated rise, followed by shaping and a second rise of 3-4 hours.

Frankly, I did not have time to wait that long. Besides, I knew it was unlikely that I would come home and want to bake on Monday evening.

So I adjusted the recipe to work with the time I had. I suspect that my bread would have risen more and filled my pans more fully if I had done two longer rises.

But I didn’t. I allowed a couple hours for the first rise and only one hour for the second.

And you know what? It was fine. Better than fine, even.

As I write, my family has completely put away both loaves — including the heels — in less than 24 hours.

And me? Well. I swooned.

POTATO BREAD

Ingredients
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (780 grams)
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups Lukewarm water
12 tablespoons (That’s 1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 1/2 teaspoons Salt
2 eggs
1 cup mashed potatoes (I used leftover instant mashed potatoes this time; I have also used real mashed potatoes and have made instant potatoes specifically for this recipe. All have worked well.)

Directions
■ Add all ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer. Using flat paddle attachment, mix on low until ingredients are moistened. Then increase speed to medium or high and beat for about 5 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape dough from sides of bowl once or twice during this process. (Dough will be sticky and soft. That’s normal.)
■ Allow the dough to rest for about 5 minutes. Switch to dough hook and mix at medium speed for about 7 minutes. Dough may not pull away from the sides the way most doughs do. (Mine did not and still turned out well.)
■ Turn dough out into a well-greased large bowl. Flip the dough over so the oil coats the entire ball. Top bowl with greased plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise in a warm place for about two hours, until doubled in size. (The original recipe suggested doing this overnight in the refrigerator instead; doing so will deepen the flavor of the finished product.)
■ When the dough has doubled, split into two equal pieces. Shape into two loaves and place each into a greased loaf pan. Allow to rise until dough just crowns over the tops of the pans, or as long as you can. (I waited about an hour, and my dough had not reached the tops of my pans. The recipe suggested 2-3 hours for refrigerated dough.)
■ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When ready to bake, place both pans in the middle rack of the oven and allow to bake uncovered for about 45 minutes, tenting pans loosely with foil about halfway through baking time. (I baked mine for 45 minutes in Pullman pans with the covers on instead.)
■ Remove from the oven. Cool just long enough to avoid burning your fingers when you slice off a piece. Add butter. Taste. Swoon.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.