From the recipes on this blog, you would think that we eat a lot of bread, the reality is that we do not, I make bread when we entertain, but I do love making bread. I was drawn to this recipe from my friend, A Boleyn’s blog, Cooking is fun. She made the most beautiful buns I have seen in some time. They were golden, perfectly round, fluffy and very soft looking AND they had an unusual ingredient: Sweet Potato! This bread’s texture reminded me of Hokkaido milk bread, which I have been meaning to try my hand at, it has a simple roux “starter” technique known as tangzhong that gives it a light, fluffy texture. While this recipe isn’t Hokkaido milk bread, its finished texture reminded me of the technique, plus there is a bit of a starter with flour, water and yeast.
The buns did not disappoint; this recipe will definitely make my go-to bread recipe repertoire, to be honest, I’ve made three batches by the time this post goes live!
Sweet Potato Buns
Recipe makes 16 buns, about 60 g each (unbaked)
For the original recipe please click here.
To print this recipe, please click here: SweetPotatoBuns_recipe.
Ingredients:
- 454 g sweet potato, peeled and cubed
- 65 g all-purpose flour
- 125 mL warm water
- 8 g quick rising yeast
- 1 large egg
- 45 mL unsalted butter, melted
- 10 mL honey
- 7 g sea salt, finely ground
- 240 g bread flour, or more as needed
Egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, or to taste
Directions:
- Cook sweet potato in salted water, until soft. Strain well (reserve cooking liquid for the yeast) and mash with a fork or potato masher; measure out 260 g and allow to cool completely. Reserve leftovers for another use (like gnocchi).
- In another bowl, mix together 65 g flour, warm water (cooking liquid) and yeast, and whisk until smooth.
- When yeast is frothy (about 10 minutes), pour it into the large bowl of your stand mixer, add the mashed sweet potato, one egg, melted butter, honey, sea salt and about 210 g of flour. Mix well using the dough hook attachment and knead for 2 to 4 minutes (I needed 4 minutes). If the dough is too sticky (mine was OK the first time but subsequent times it was too wet), add the remaining 30 g (or more) of flour and knead until the dough is soft, elastic and shiny (about 2 minutes).
- Turn the dough out into a well-oil the bowl and cover. Allow to rise until double in size (about 1 hour), I did this in an unheated oven.
- After it has doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press out the air bubbles. Using your fingers, press the dough into a rectangle about 2 cm thick. Divide the dough into 16 equal portions (about 60 g each) and roll into a smooth ball. Allow to rest for 45 minutes on a covered baking sheet.
- Preheat your oven to 400° F. Combine the remaining egg, water and mix well. Brush each bun with the egg mixture and sprinkle each with sesame seeds.
- Bake in a hot oven until golden or when the internal temperature is 200° F (about 15 minutes).
Notes:
- I used bread flour because I did not have enough All-Purpose flour. I have since made it with all purpose flour and it was equally as delicious.
- I have made this recipe three times, the last time the dough was much too wet so I had to add more than the 30 g of flour (probably closer to 80 g).
- Use some of the water you used to boil the sweet potatoes for the yeast because it has flavour and nutrients.
- The 454-ish gram sweet potato yielded about 330 g. The leftover 70 g of the sweet potato will make a generous amount of gnocchi.
- The 70 g of sweet potato leftover was mixed with the remaining egg (after I egg washed all the rolls) and enough flour to make a gnocchi dough and some grated Parmesan Cheese. I freeze uncooked gnocchi on parchment on a cookie sheet and then pop them into a ziplock baggy. I got enough gnocchi for about three smallish servings.
Hi Eva, I just tried to print this recipe out, but the link took me to a different recipe (No Knead Spelt Bread). Can you update the link? I’d love to try this recipe! Thanks, Sue
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Sorry about that Sue, I have updated the printable recipe, thanks
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Thanks Eva for the updated recipe. Now there’s a picture of Gnocchi inserted in the layout below the recipe. LOL. Looks delish!
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Oh Duh. I see the reference to Gnocchis in the recipe. Great idea!
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Eva, these buns look so beautiful! I’m almost convinced to try making them (just joking… I’m a really horrible baker, so I’ve abandoned the hope I could bake successfully). The sweet potatoes give these buns a particularly attractive colour.
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After all the great recipes you’ve introduced me to, I’m glad that I could share ONE with you. 🙂
I made sweet potato latkes with my sweet potato. Gnocchi next time. 🙂
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That is very lovely of you to say, thank you. Have a wonderful weekend.
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I can certainly see your skill with bread in this recipe. GREG
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I am flattered, Greg, thank you for your kind words.
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Beautiful buns! When I catered I often made pumpkin buns if I needed to do something with sandwiches. So in the fall, I offer up pumpkin buns, cranberry butter or apple mustard, cheeses, smoked turkey, etc. They were always a big hit with the men, who tended to eat more. The color was beautiful but no one ever knew what made them that way. And they probably would have screwed up their faces if I’d told them! In the US it seems like people can only associate pumpkin with pie! Although it’s probably getting better. In any case, I don’t remember ever using sweet potato, but I do know that Whole Foods sells it right next to pumpkin in aseptic cartons. It has a nice smooth texture.
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Pumpkin buns sound wonderful, perhaps I’ll give them a try in the fall. Is the recipe on your blog or just substitute pumpking purée for the sweet potato? Thank you for dropping by Mimi.
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I never used a recipe. I just use pumpkin purée as part of the liquid!
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I’ve made a bread just like this and I’m addicted to the tangzhong process. It really does produce the most amazingly soft bread.
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Thanks Lorraine, can’t wait to try the tangzhong bread.
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I really like sweet potatoes, and don’t believe I’ve ever made bread out of them. Love this. And it’s a recipe twofer — gnocchi too! 🙂
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The gnocchi was pretty awesome too but the bread is super soft and fluffy. You really must give it a try.
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I love all the random things you can do with sweet potatoes. I should cook with them more often,
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If it weren’t for the reference recipe, I would not have come up with this unusual bread. You should try it Dave, it would make an awesome bun on a take with East Coast Lobster Roll.
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The buns certainly look great! I would be curious to know what would happen if one were to use the sweet potato mixture as an actual starter (i.e. allowed to ferment overnight before adding the rest of the flour).
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That sounds really interesting Stefan, would you just purée it and allow it to ferment on the counter on its own or would you add something to it? Let me know if you try it.
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Fantastic! I like to make a white sandwich bread with white potato, so it’s pretty surprising to me that I’ve never thought of using a sweet potato before! These roads look absolutely delicious and I have no doubt that they’re addictive. I’ll have to try them out. plus, I’ve never made gnocchi before, so that’s an incentive.
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Thanks Jeff, the bread is really addictive, hope you give it a try. I’ve never made bread from potatoes so we’re even! 😉
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Your sweet potato buns are calling my name &é mouth! They came out perfect, I have to say! So fluffy & amazingly golden too! Waw!
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I am so flattered that you are making so many of my recipes. Can you send me pictures?
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I haven’t baked bread in a long time since I try to steer clear of a lot of carbs, but I miss the process. Your rolls are picture perfect…and with fall coming, I’d love to try them.
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I probably should also cut down on carbs but I just love bread too much. I don’t bake often so that’s a plus.
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Soft and fluffy…perfect with a bowl of soup 🙂 And I love the beautiful golden colour from the sweet potato too!
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I loved the colour too Angie, so pretty.
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Gorgeous looking buns and those gnocchi made me wish I had an extra large sweet potato in the house so I could make both. Oh well … guess I’ll have to settle for a regular old loaf of Italian bread tomorrow.
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Maria, I’ve made three batches already, my husband absolutely LOVES them. I suspect that I’ll make a few more batches before the year is over. Thank you so much for introducing me to them.
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