Sweet potato rolls
These small round rolls are kneaded with steamed, mashed sweet potato, so the crumb is a warm orange-gold, soft, moist and naturally a little sweet. Sweet potato holds on to moisture beautifully, keeping the rolls soft into the next day. Enjoy them plain, stuffed with cold cuts or with honey butter.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 22 min
- Rising or chilling
- 1 hr 50 min
- Total time
- 2 hr 57 min
- Method
- Oven-baked
Ingredients
For the dough
For brushing the tops
Instructions
Step 1
Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into chunks and steam them over high heat for about twenty minutes, then mash them until very smooth, weigh out 200 g mashed sweet potato and let it cool. Steaming leaves the sweet potato less watery than boiling, so the dough won't turn mushy. The sweet potato is ready when a chopstick slides through easily and the mash has no lumps.
Step 2
Put 350 g bread flour, 40 g brown sugar, 6 g instant yeast and 6 g salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the mashed sweet potato, 50 g eggs and 80 g warm whole milk, then knead on low speed for about five minutes. You only need a little milk because the sweet potato already holds plenty of water. The dough is ready when it comes together in an evenly orange mass that's still slightly sticky.
Step 3
Add 40 g softened unsalted butter and knead on medium speed for about ten minutes. The butter makes the crumb fine, soft and rich. The dough is ready when it's smooth, glossy and elastic and stretches into a thin windowpane without tearing.
Step 4
Place the dough in a bowl, cover it tightly and let it rise somewhere warm for about an hour. This gives the yeast time to rise evenly and lets the dough relax so it's easy to divide. The dough is ready when it has nearly doubled and shows lots of air bubbles inside when you tear off a corner.
Step 5
Press the dough down, divide it into twelve equal pieces, roll each piece into a taut ball and arrange them about one centimeter apart in a parchment-lined 23 x 33 cm rectangular pan. Taut balls rise round and brown evenly. Once arranged, the balls should sit in even rows with smooth tops.
Step 6
Cover with a towel and let the rolls proof for about forty minutes until they touch, and meanwhile heat the oven to 180°C. When the rolls rise into each other, they bake up with soft sides that pull apart easily. They're ready when they've grown to about one and a half times their size and a light press leaves a dent that springs back slowly.
Step 7
Beat 25 g eggs, brush it lightly over the tops, sprinkle with 8 g white sesame seeds if you like, then bake at 180°C for 18 to 22 minutes. Sweet potato contains sugar, so the tops brown fairly quickly; keep an eye on them from the fifteen-minute mark. The rolls are done when the tops are a glossy golden brown and the bottoms are dry.
Step 8
Leave the rolls in the pan for about five minutes, then lift them out on the parchment onto a rack and let them cool for another ten minutes. Letting some steam escape keeps the bottoms from turning soggy. They're ready when they feel warm to the touch, the crumb is soft and the rolls pull apart easily.
Equipment
- Oven
- Steamer
- Rectangular pan
- Stand mixer
- Bench scraper
- Pastry brush
- Kitchen scale
- Plastic wrap
Tips
- Yellow- or orange-fleshed sweet potatoes give the prettiest color; white-fleshed ones still work, but the rolls will be paler.
- If your sweet potatoes are very moist, hold back some of the milk and only add it if the dough is too dry.
- For an autumn-spiced flavor, add a little ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients.
Storage
The rolls keep for two days in an airtight container at room temperature. You can freeze them for up to a month; to serve, thaw them and warm them in a 160°C oven for about five minutes to soften them again.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The dough is too sticky to divide.
- The mashed sweet potato held more water than expected. Knead in more bread flour a small spoonful at a time and let the dough rest for ten minutes; avoid adding too much at once or the rolls will be dry.
- The tops darkened before the inside was cooked.
- The natural sugar in sweet potato makes the tops brown quickly. Lower the oven to 170°C and cover the rolls with foil once the tops have enough color.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
