Purple Sweet Potato Coconut Bread

Rachel
Mar 26, 2021
4 min read

Holy moly these are so adorable and delicious!!!! Not only do these naturally purple buns look amazing, they taste fantastic! There's a light coconut flavor that perfectly compliments these delicately sweet yeast buns :D I've never had anything like them before and I'm excited to make them again!

The original recipe, which I modified, is from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN4y6Ai6Vmw Note: My dough was much stiffer than in this tutorial, so I recommend starting with 380 g of flour and see if you need the full 430 g while kneading.

The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:

Ingredients:

100 g peeled and cooked ube (purple sweet potato)
135 mL coconut cream (139 g)
1 large egg, at room temperature (50-55 g)
380 to 430 g all-purpose or bread flour (12% protein)
90 g white sugar
5 g table salt (1 tsp.)
100 g or ml milk
10 g instant or active dry yeast
30 g softened unsalted butter
A neutral oil for greasing, powdered sugar or flour for dusting (optional)

Directions:

Peel the purple sweet potatoes and cut into 1 inch cubes. Steam with a steamer (ideal), or in a microwave covered for about 6-8 minutes like you see in the pictures below, until you can easily pierce several pieces with a fork.
Mash the sweet potato until very smooth. I used a spatula and my fingers to press it through a sieve, but you can mash it and then blend with the coconut cream until smooth.
Combine the mashed sweet potato with the coconut cream and egg, set aside.
In a mixing bowl combine 380 g flour, salt, and most of the sugar. Set aside.
Warm the milk to about 90-100°F and mix in the yeast and 1 tsp. sugar until dissolved. Let activate and foam up for 3-8 minutes.
Add the milk mixture, potato mixture, and the soft butter to the flour mixture. Begin to mix together, absorbing all the flour. The dough should be sticky.
Once the flour is hydrated, take out onto a clean surface and begin to knead, knead until it's smooth and does not tear a lot, you may need slightly more flour if it's very wet but it will always be sticky. I used all 430 g flour and my dough was too stiff (took ~30 minutes to knead, so I recommend starting with 380 g).
Shape into a ball, lightly grease with oil, place in an oiled bowl, cover, and rest in a warm place until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.
Take the dough out onto a clean surface and knead for about 1 minute to de-gas it. Cut into 9 pieces of equal size or weight (you can also make 12 rolls in a 9x13" glass/Pyrex pan).
Shape the pieces into balls and place in a greased or parchment paper lined (recommended) Pyrex dish. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 320°F.
Once pre-heated, dust the rolls with powdered sugar or flour to minimize browning. Then bake for 25-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 200F. Mine took 42 minutes, but if you bake 12 rolls in a larger dish they may need less time. Note: as soon as you notice the tops browning (mine was about 15 minutes into baking), then add a loose layer of tin foil on top of the buns.
Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool for at least 30-60 minutes before eating.
Makes 9-12 rolls, or one very large bread loaf. These are best eaten the same day they are baked when the coconut flavor is the strongest! I enjoy mine with butter, margarine, jam, etc.

The ingredients I used.

Here is a picture of the details of my coconut cream:

Peel the vibrant purple sweet potato(s)

Cut into 1 inch pieces.

And steam, I had to use a microwave for about 8 minutes.

After cooking. Next we will mash!

I mashed my sweet potato through a sieve but you can use a ricer or blend it with the coconut cream to make it smooth.

After mashing through the sieve, now it's ready to use!

Add the coconut cream and egg.

And mix together. SOOOO purple! Set this aside.

Add the flour, salt, and most of the sugar to the mixing bowl.

And mix together. Set aside.

Mix the warm milk, yeast, and a little sugar (about 1 tsp.) together. Rest until the yeast bubbles and activates.

After activating the yeast.

Then add the yeast mixture, potato mixture, and softened butter to the flour mixture.

Begin to mix together until the flour hydrates (your dough may be wetter and stickier than mine, I started with too much flour!)

Then take onto a clean surface.

And knead until smooth.

Lightly grease with oil and place in an oiled bowl. Then cover and let rise.

After the first rise.

Dump onto a clean surface.

Knead for about 1 minute to de-gas.

Then cut into 9 pieces.

Shape into balls and place in an oiled dish. We don't want these to brown too much so that's why we use a pyrex dish and low oven temperature while baking.