Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf #3

October 12, 2016February 23, 2017 | San

Soft Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

To answer my own question from here, yes, sugar made a different in height. I also added one egg instead of half to save the trouble of finding another recipe to use the remaining egg. So maybe it helped too?

Nothing else is new here, so I simply copy and paste the recipe from loaf #2 post, and added a series of photos to demonstrate how I shape the loaf. Hope this helps.

Soft Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf

220g bread flour
1/2 tablespoon instant dry yeast
1/4 sea salt
2 tablespoon raw sugar
100g purple sweet potato, steamed + mashed
1 large egg **
40g water
40g cold unsalted butter, cubed

** refers to large egg that weighs at least 70g including the shell.

Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixer bowl and stir with a hand whisk to mix these dry ingredients well. Add sweet potatoes, beaten egg and water, turn the mixer on lowest speed (KA1) with a dough hook, and knead until the ingredients come into a ball. Stop the mixer and let this dough stand for 15 minutes to allow liquid to be absorbed better by the flour, I find that kneading to reach window pane stage later will be easier with this additional dough resting step.

After 15 minutes, turn the mixer on again to knead the dough for 1 minute, then slowly add cubed butter one by one, and knead till dough reaches window pane stage. Remove bowl from mixer, and let it proof for 60 minutes, covered and placed in a draft free place.

The dough would have expanded to twice its size. To test if it is ready to be shaped, poke a hole in the center with a floured finger, the dent should not bounce back if the bulk rise is completed. Once the dough is ready, punch down the dough to deflate it, and transfer it to a clean work top.

Soft Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

With a rolling pin, flatten the dough to push out gas trapped inside the dough. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. Shape each ball as follow and place them in a bread tin, seam side downwards, and proof for another 60 minutes.

Soft Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes. When done, remove bread from tin immediately and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.

If you like your bread loaf soft at the top, brush over the top crust with butter when the bread is freshly hot out of the oven. The soft dome top also makes slicing easier after the bread has cooled down.

Soft Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

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Walnut Chia Seed Sweet Potato Bread

October 6, 2016February 23, 2017 | San

Walnut Chia Seed Purple Sweet Potato Boule // Mono+Co

My solid wood counter top recently started to warp and I texted to ask my contractor, how can stone warp. You see, I always thought I have a stone surface given its natural stone-like finishing, at least to my absolutely untrained eyes. It’s not my contractor’s fault, as the kitchen wasn’t really a big a part of my life then when we first moved in. I left the choice of layout and materials to them as it wasn’t exactly a favorite part of my house. That’s how I ended up thinking I had a stone counter.

And more than 10 years later, I had the cheek to ask for a possible material defect check. This mistake was so ridiculous, I started laughing at myself after ending the conversation. Goes to show how little I know about renovations. I am more of a touch-up fan than an overhaul person. But this time, the damage is far too serious to be touched up, and a replacement looks inevitable.

Then I started imagining myself, excitedly, kneading bread on a marble top, or a beautiful butcher block counter. Basically, materials that are drop dead gorgeous but will require relatively higher maintenance and care, something I am not willing to spend too much time on. I don’t even hand knead my bread to begin with! So going back to reality, I will talk to my contractor about the more practical choices, and this time, you bet I will be much more informed and more involved. This habit has finally come in handy.

Speaking of hand-knead loaves, boule is a favorite style that I like to associate 100% handmade bread with. And this walnut chia seed potato bread is one that I would bake into a boule when I am not baking with a bread tin, even though I knead all the time with an electric mixer.

Walnut Chia Seed Purple Sweet Potato Boule // Mono+Co

Walnut Chia Seeds Potato Bread

200g bread flour
1/2 tablespoon instant dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons raw sugar
100g purple sweet potato, steamed+mashed
1 large egg **
30g water
35g cold unsalted butter, cubed
50g walnuts ***
3/4 tablespoon chia seeds

** I use large egg that weighs around 70g
*** Pulse walnuts in a food processor 3 or 4 times to break them up into medium size pieces. Do not mill them into grounds or paste.

In a mixer bowl, add bread flour, instant yeast, sea salt, sugar, stir with a hand whisk to mix the dry ingredients together uniformly.

Add mashed sweet potatoes, beaten egg, and water, and knead them into a ball using a dough hook attachment with the mixer turned on to its lowest speed (KA 1).

Turn off the mixer and leave the ball dough to sit for 15 minutes. Then restart the mixer and knead for 1 minute before adding the cubed butter one by one with the mixer running.

Keep kneading until there are no traces of butter left, and the dough reaches window pane stage and becomes very elastic. Add walnuts and chia seeds, and mix them uniformly into the dough. Leave this aside to bulk rise for 60 minutes.

The dough will double its volume and is ready for shaping if you can do this “belly button test”, the dent made with a floured finger doesn’t bounce back.

Walnut Chia Seed Purple Sweet Potato Boule // Mono+Co

Punch to deflate the dough, and transfer it to a clean work top. Flatten the dough with hands to push out trapped gas. Usually, I use a rolling pin for this purpose, but this would be difficult with pieces of walnuts in the dough. I place it in the photos to show the difference in the size of the dough before and after the final proof.

Shape the dough into a ball, and place it on a greased/lined baking tray, mine measures 30cm x 30cm. Leave this covered, in a draft-free place. I put mine in the oven, without the power turned on.

Walnut Chia Seed Purple Sweet Potato Boule // Mono+Co

This is the dough after 60 minutes of final proof.

Walnut Chia Seed Purple Sweet Potato Boule // Mono+Co

Bake it in a preheat oven 170C for 22-25 minutes, until it turns golden brown. Then leave it to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Enjoy.

Walnut Chia Seed Purple Sweet Potato Boule // Mono+Co

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Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf #2

September 29, 2016February 23, 2017 | San

Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

The purple sweet potato bread I baked last week was not purple enough, so I baked another version using my usual mashed potatoes recipe. Actually the earlier version got its color from only 30 grams of sweet potatoes and 20 grams of water that I boiled the potatoes in. This time, I made the color more intense by using 100grams of potatoes, steaming it instead of boiling to cook it.

Thinking that the sweet potatoes will be sweet enough to replace the sugar, I omitted any sweeteners, and ended up with a really bland but still pillowy loaf. Not that I mind, traditional bread recipes do not add sugar anyway. The bread was meant to be eaten with butter and spreads, so it did not really bother me, though I did wonder if the bread would have risen higher if sugar was added, given that it was a 220g of flour recipe. I have baked taller loaves.

I will find out when I bake this again if I see purple sweet potatoes available in the market next week.

Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf // Mono+Co

Purple Sweet Potato Bread Loaf

220g plain flour
1/2 tablespoon instant yeast
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
100g mashed purple sweet potatoes
1/2 egg
40g water
30g cold unsalted butter, cubed

Combine flour, yeast and salt in a mixer bowl and stir with hand whisk to mix them well. Add sweet potatoes, beaten egg and water, turn the mixer on lowest speed (KA1) with a dough hook, and knead till the ingredients come into a ball. Stop the mixer and let this dough stand for 15 minutes to allow liquid to be absorbed better by the flour, I find that kneading to reach window pane stage later will be easier with this additional dough resting step.

After 15 minutes, turn the mixer on again to knead the dough for 1 minute, then slowly add cubed butter one by one, and knead till dough reaches window pane stage. Remove bowl from mixer, and let it proof for 60 minutes, covered and placed in a draft free place.

The dough would have expanded to twice its size, punch down the dough to deflate it, and transfer it to a clean work top. With a rolling pin, flatten the dough to push out gases trapped inside the dough. Shape the dough and place in bread tin, seam side downwards, and proof for another 60 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes. When done, remove bread from tin immediately and let it cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.

If you like bread loaf soft at the top, brush over the top crust with butter when the bread is freshly hot out of the oven. The soft dome top also makes slicing the bread easier after it has cooled down.

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Purple Bread Loaf

September 17, 2016February 23, 2017 | San

Purple Sweet Potato Bread // Mono+Co

With the purple mochi prepared and eaten, I went on to bake a bread loaf with the remaining “purple color extract” that I am left with after boiling purple sweet potatoes in water.

Since the mashed sweet potatoes looked too wet to handle, I skipped adding them to my dough like my other potato bread attempts and used just the purple color liquid. I added 30g of the mashed potato later on, after gaining more confidence when I saw how the dough had come together properly after a first proof.

Purple Sweet Potato Bread // Mono+Co

The interior of the bread has a more pastel shade but the purple color is still quite obvious. I would experiment with adding more mashed potatoes next time and see if I can bake the bread with a darker purple shade .

This recipe is largely adapted from a white loaf recipe from <<孟老师的100道面包>>, one of my favorite bread recipe book. It uses the sponge method that I like but takes slightly more time to prepare.

PURPLE SWEET POTATO LOAF

adapted from white loaf recipe <<孟老师的100道面包>> p.90

for sponge:
220g bread flour
3/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast
130g purple sweet potato water

for bread:
30g mashed purple sweet potato
30g bread flour
1 tablespoon raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
20g purple sweet potato water
15g cold unsalted butter, cubed

To make sponge, place 220g bread flour, instant dry yeast and purple sweet potato water in a mixing bowl. Knead with a dough hook at the lowest mixer speed (KA 1) till the ingredients come into a dough. Let this dough rest aside, covered, for 90 minutes.

When the first proof is completed, add mashed sweet potato, bread flour, sugar, salt, potato water and continue to knead the dough till all the ingredients come together. Knead at the same speed for another 2 minutes till it turns smoother. By now, you can slowly add the butter cubes, one by one, and knead till no traces of butter are left and the dough reaches window pane stage: soft, super pliable.

Remove bowl from mixer, and let this dough rise for 60 minutes, covered.

The dough would rise to double its volume when time is up, punch to deflate the dough and transfer it to a clean worktop. Squeeze out any air bubbles trap inside the dough, then shape the dough and place it in the bread tin, seam side downwards. Let it proof for another 50-60 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 minutes.

After baking, remove bread from the tin immediately. Brush top of bread with butter to make the crust soft after it has cooled down. Leave on rack to cool completely before slicing or serving.

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Start The Day With Sweet Potato Bread

April 28, 2016February 23, 2017 | San

Sweet Potato Bread // Mono+Co

If I have to give one compelling reason to not own a bread machine, it has to be the freedom to shape my own bread. But that is only because my KitchenAid mixer did most part of the hard work: the kneading process. This horse shoe shaped bread was inspired by a modern bakery from Taiwan. After making some mental notes on the ingredient permutations (they even kimchi!) and some interesting scoring patterns, I decided to bake my next day’s breakfast loaf using a familiar recipe but shaped it like a horse shoe, just like those ‘artisan-looking’ breads on the bakery’s shelves.

I used a Wilton heating core to hold the bread dough in a semi circle shape, even after a pretty dramatic final proof.

As usual, with one sweet potato, the recipe produced a super duper soft bread texture, without any need for chemically derived bread improver. I can’t help doing one or two “bread-yoga-poses” to illustrate my point.

Sweet Potato Bread // Mono+Co

SWEET POTATO WALNUT HONEY BREAD

adapted from here

93g cooked+mashed sweet potato
 175g bread flour/ plain flour
 2 tablespoons honey
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 1/2 tablespoon instant yeast
 1/2 egg
 40g water
 35g cold unsalted butter, cubed
 40g walnut, roughly chopped

*After many rounds of baking breads with tubers, I think that the amount of sweet potatoes added does not have to be as accurate as the recipe. To avoid food waste, I simply eyeball one that would roughly give me around 70g-100g of potato after peeling, and use up the entire cooked potato for the bread, instead of leaving behind small chunks just to adhere strictly to the amount the recipe had called for. However, as the additional potatoes contains water, the amount of liquid added to the dough subsequently need to be adjusted; just enough for the ingredients to come to a ball.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, mashed sweet potatoes , honey, salt, yeast and beaten egg. With a dough hook, knead the ingredients on low speed, nothing much would happen now as most of the ingredients are dry, slowly drizzle water from a pouring cup and stop when the ingredients start to gather into a ball. You may like to use the starchy water left behind from boiling the sweet potatoes with, just return them to room temperature.

If you have time, leave this dough aside for 15minutes to allow the flour to absorb the liquid properly. Otherwise, add cubed butter one by one, till they are mixed completely into the dough and there are no sight of butter left. Continue kneading this dough to window pane stage, the dough should look really smooth and elastic. Finally, add the roughly chopped walnuts and let the mixer incorporate the nuts into the dough, takes about 1 minute.

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let it rise for an hour. Punch dough down to deflate it and transfer to a clean worktop. Shape to desire, in my case, I flatten the dough on the worktop with a rolling pin and push out all trapped air bubbles, then I roll up the dough, longer side facing me, swiss roll style. Pinch the open ends to seal them firmly. With seams facing downwards, place the dough on a greased baking tray and wrap it around a greased Heating Core (totally optional, if you don’t have this, just roughly bend the dough into horse shoe shape on the baking tray). Leave it covered, place in a draft free place, and let it rise for 45min to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 170C and bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, till golden brown. Lightly mist the bread with water before putting it into the oven. I learned this trick when baking sourdough style bread, and have since adopted this habit with all of my breads, somewhat like my “lucky charm” for a successful bake. Try this with your next homemade bread, and see if it works for you too!

When the baking is done, remove heating core and transfer the bread to a wire rack to let it cool completely before slicing/ serving.

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