Irish potato bread, also known as “boxty,” began as a recipe of necessity due to the abundance of potatoes and soft texture of wheat grown in Ireland. Crunchy soda bread is customarily an accompaniment to a main meal to soak up gravy and is also likely to appear at breakfast.
As the name suggests, potato bread is made by replacing a portion of the regular wheat flour in traditional bread with either mashed potatoes or dehydrated potato flakes. The ratio of potato to wheat flour affects the density of the bread, because the potato dilutes the gluten content.