The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Sweet Potato Rolls

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Sweet Potato Rolls

I made this recipe up last night. We thought they were great, so I think I'll make them again for Thanksgiving.

The sweet potatoes give the rolls a beautiful orange color. They also give off a nice earthy smell. You don't taste them very much, though they do keep the rolls soft and supple.

I made mine too large, more like hamburger buns than rolls. Next time I'll divide the dough into smaller pieces.

Sweet Potato Rolls
makes 12 to 18 rolls

1 sweet potato, baked
1 cup milk
1/2 cup white or brown sugar
3-4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Bake the sweet potato for approximately 45 minutes at 375. Remove the oven and let cool.

Combine the sweet potato, sugar, and milk and stir to make a paste. Mix in 2 cups of the flour, the salt, the yeast, and the spices until thoroughly combined. Add more flour a quarter cup at a time. Mix in after each addition until you have a dough that is tacky but which you can handle with wet hands. When you hit the proper consistency, remove from the bowl and knead by hand for 5 to 10 minutes.

Set the dough aside to rise in a covered bowl for 45 minutes to an hour. Divide into a dozen or so pieces, shape, and then again allow to rise until they have roughly doubled in size, another hour or so.

I suspect they would be lovely if coated with an egg wash. I did not do so, but I may next time.

sweet potato rolls

Bake at 375 for approximately 20 to 25 minutes until they are beginning to turn brown.

sweet potato rolls

sweet potato rolls

maggie664's picture
maggie664

Hello Floyd,
Those rolls look wonderful. Is your sweet potato what we call here kumara - has it got bright pumpkin-coloured flesh and yellow/grey skin? M

Floydm's picture
Floydm
slidething's picture
slidething

 Floyd ~

  Hmmmm - yummy looking rolls ~ get the skillet hot and grill them with alittle brown sugar and cimmamon.... a cup of coffee and call it breakfast.

 Or roll the bulk dough out and and spread butter over it - give it a book-fold then two three folds and let it rest about 30 minutes and roll out and make cinnamon bunns.

 Either way awsome rolls ~

 Slide_Out

KipperCat's picture
KipperCat

I can't make these beautiful dinner rolls for Thanksgiving dinner as my hostess is allergic. But I can make sweet potato cinnamon rolls with pecans for Christmas morning! I think I could make the dough and shape the rolls ahead of time and freeze - then move to refrigerator on Christmas Eve and bake in the morning. Do you think I should let them rise any before freezing?

Manang's picture
Manang

Shape your log (with the cinnamon filling) and wrap tight with cling wrap before freezing.

On the day you are going to bake, thaw on the countertop for 15 minutes, then slice with a knife. Dip in/brush with melted butter and place on your baking pan. Let rise in warmed oven (just so it is draft-free and the warmth will help in rising; I usually turn the oven on for 1 minute then turn it off for this purpose). Rising will probably be anywhere from 1 hr to 2 hrs.  Some people let them rise in room temp which takes forever, I can imagine, but  it will be easy enough to place in the fridge to "stop" the rising if you are not yet ready to put in the oven.

I recently made sweet potato cinnamon rolls and they are heavenly!

Doc Tracy's picture
Doc Tracy

This sounds amazing! Did you put butter in your cinnamon filling?

browndog's picture
browndog

The gold just leaps off the screen, gorgeous.

breadnerd's picture
breadnerd

What a lovely color, I never thought of using sweet potato in a potato-type bread, what a good idea!  May just add that to my t-day menu :)

maggie664's picture
maggie664

Floyd, Thank you for the info re kumara which was extremely interesting. M

zolablue's picture
zolablue

Those rolls look and sound so good - beautiful color!  What are your thoughts about keeping quality? 

 

I'm in kind of an odd spot because my sister wants me to bring rolls for our TD there on Friday after having been gone all day on Thursday at my in-laws house.  The latest I could bake them would be Wednesday night.  

 

Should I bake, cool and freeze?  Or would they be ok to last for 2 days in a plastic bag? 

 

(PS...Floyd, I can't click on the stars anymore because they just jump around. Is it just me?)

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I baked them on Saturday evening. We had some for breakfast this morning (Monday) and they were fine. I would assume that if you stored them tightly in plastic and then maybe zapped them in the microwave for thirty seconds before serving them they'd be good as new.

I need to look at why the stars are misbehaving in IE, I just haven't gotten around to it.

zolablue's picture
zolablue

Floyd, do you have any thoughts on how this dough would retard overnight? 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I think it'd be fine, but I can't say that I've tried it. I think I'm going to bake them tomorrow. My goal is to have them risen and ready to go into the oven the minute the turkey comes out. They only take about 20 minutes to bake and it takes at least 10 or 15 to get the turkey out, transferred to a plate, carved, and so on.

Good luck!

zolablue's picture
zolablue

I found I will have more time here tomorrow than I thought so I may just bake them in the morning for Friday's dinner.  I might even try to retard the shaped rolls overnight - oh, heck, who am I kidding - I can't decide!  It is hard to figure out these things when there isn't enough time at home in between having to run to two family's out-of-town houses for dinner.

 

I can't wait to make these pretty orange rolls so thanks for the recipe.  If they aren't any good I'll hunt you down.  (lol)  Have a happy turkey day!

spsq's picture
spsq

I love this site.  I'm a little embarassed to admit that sometimes when I see some of these pictures - like those gorgeous golden rolls - I get a little teary.  So beautiful!

zolablue's picture
zolablue

I did get these made but I must have lost count of the flour as I was adding it; ok I DID lose count of the flour while adding it.  So I ended up with much lighter colored rolls than your beautiful orange ones.  Still they were lovely and I snipped some little points into the tops and they really looked festive.

 

Everyone loved them especially a couple people that insisted on taking any that were left - I'd made a double batch.  I loved the flavor and would definately make them again only I would keep track of the amount of flour.  (hehe) 

 

Floyd, I imagine your dough was much more sticky than I let mine be.  I didn't have time to let them rise the morning I mixed them up so I put them in the fridge to retard all day.  They had only risen a teensy half inch many hours later.  When I removed them from the fridge I realized that they were rising SO slowly I would be up the entire night so I went to bed around 1:00 am.  I woke up at 6:30 am to find they had gone over double about a half inch but I was fine with that as I thought they were never going to raise at all.  Is that because I obviously dumped in way too much flour for the yeast amount?

 

Anyway, whatever I did I made them slow and I was not sure if you intended they needed to double in bulk.  I think my confusion caused me much extra time and work but that's a newbie mistake.  At any rate they were really nice rolls and I hope the next time I make them I can make them the color of yours. 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

The color may have also been because there are different color sweet potatoes. I think I was using red garnet sweet potatoes, which are one of the most colorful.

My first rise with them was really slow too. After 90 minutes or so it hadn't come anywhere close to doubling. But after I divided and shaped them they rose fairly quickly. My best guess is that this was because the milk and sweet potato were cold. Only after being out of the fridge for a while and in the palm of my hand did the dough warm up enough to rise quickly.

No worries about the mistakes. If your guests enjoyed them that is what is important. You might find tricks that make them work better anyway. If you do, please let us know!

ehanner's picture
ehanner

I didn't get around to these before Turkey Day so I thought a rainy cold Monday would be a good excuse for fresh rolls with the soup on the stove, simmering the essence out of the turkey carcase. I won't bother with the pictures, they look exactly like Floyd's.

I happened to have a ruby red sweet potato which are very brightly colored and sweet compared to others. I think these would be good with canned pumpkin as well and as Floyd mentioned you don't really taste the sweet potato. I did make one minor change in the direction of enhancing the flavor. I used dark brown sugar in place of what I took to be white sugar in the recipe. I always use dark brown in pumpkin pies also and it adds a depth of flavor to the sweetness that I like.

In the end I used nearly 4 Cups of flour to get the consistency that just barely let me shape the rolls on a floured counter into mini boules. I know the recipe calls for using wet hands but I had better luck with a dry process. I've been learning to handle wet dough with hands in my rye and WW breads but small round shapes would be a stretch for me.

The only advice I have if you are considering this recipe is, make a double batch!

Thanks Floyd this is a keeper!

Eric

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Glad to hear they worked out.

umbreadman's picture
umbreadman (not verified)

I made these as well a few days ago for my parents, and like eric, i used brown instead of white sugar, and I think it was a great substitution. They turned out really well. My dad, ever the adventurous one, suggested putting a date in the middle of the rolls before baking them, so i tried it with one. I'm usually a little hesitant to take my dad's suggestions because they're generally a bit far out, but the date in the center melted a little bit and was a great addition without making it too sweet. I'm tempted to try and use dates, chopped up, to sweeten a bread in the future.

Cyrus 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

That sounds pretty neat.

I updated the recipe to say "white or brown sugar" since it sounds like you and Eric both had good success with that. It does sound good.

Hmm... what about with marshmallows melted on top?

=8^P

umbreadman's picture
umbreadman (not verified)

you know, somebody (i forget who...sadly) made little rolls with melted chocolate faces on them. i think if we fused that idea with what we've got going here...sweet potato & brown sugar rolls with chocolate and marshmallow faces...with something in the center...maybe that's going too far....

 

 

but maybe not......(insert mysterious music)

KipperCat's picture
KipperCat

I have a bag of date sugar, which I think is just ground up dates. It has a nice flavor, sort of like brown sugar, but maybe a bit deeper - if that makes any sense!  The date in the middle sounds like a nice touch.

zolablue's picture
zolablue

The brown sugar sounds great and the date is a super idea, too!  I even think making this bread in a tiny loaf pan would be nice and then you could slice a nice "roll size" piece.  That might be another good way to use the dates.  Or you could roll it out like sweet rolls and make your own date filling using muscavado sugar and it would mimic sticky toffee pudding; as in sticky toffee pudding bread.  YUM!

 

I'm envious because I did use a more colorful sweet potato although I didn't pay attention to the name if they noted it.  I was doing something kinda risky using two odd measuring cups because I had the other ones dirty from having just made pumpkin ice cream so I was trying to keep count with odd numbers.  My mind must have wandered.  Naw, ya think!  (hehe)  Anyway, I am sure going to make them again maybe even this weekend to take to my parents because my mother hasn't quit talking about how good they were and my father had wanted to snatch some of the leftovers but was beaten by the others.  I can't stop until I make it properly.

 

Oh, I wanted to ask Eric and umbreadman, did you notice a long time for the dough to rise?

JinMaine's picture
JinMaine

I couldn't help responding to this since I was convinced I had forgotten the yeast from my sweet potato rolls on Thanksgiving. The bulk dough had very little rise - even after several hours. I finally decided that I would shape the rolls anyway and cast fate to the wind - no one would need to know that I baked rolls for dinner. Once shaped, I put them in a pretty warm (but off) oven and they rose a little. Stuck them in the oven and - what a spring they had!

They were the hit of Thanksgiving dinner and, to put a stop to whining, I ended up packing all the leftover rolls (not many) for the guests to take home.

This was a keeper recipe and thanks to Floyd for the pretty picture!

Janet

 

 

zolablue's picture
zolablue

I'm so glad it wasn't just me. Since I was a little confused to begin with on the flour I was still going over and over in my mind hours later in bed that night (sad, huh) if I had truly added the proper amount of yeast. I know I did. So this, for some reason I don't understand, just doesn't want or need to rise very much in bulk. I wish I'd had the guts to just shape the rolls like you guys did. I also got a bit more dense crumb than Floyd's photo showed so no doubt that was due to my rise time and the extra flour, of course.

 

umbreadman's picture
umbreadman (not verified)

Have faith in the little guys! I don't know why it doesn't rise a whole lot as a dough, but the oven heat kicks it into high gear and takes care of everything. I feel like the dough was wetter/slacker than usual doughs, and that threw me off a little bit. I dusted them with flour at the end to make them easier to handle, but was hesitant to add much more to the dough than called for.

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Hey there Zolablue, I'm feeling smug about the rising issue. A couple weeks ago I ordered a 1# package of SAF-Gold Instant yeast from KA. Yeast is inexpensive and I wanted to try it out in acidic and sweet doughs. So I have been using the Gold for anything with a preferment or any sugar. I don't really have a way to judge the Red and Gold against each other as I use it. I suppose I could do an independent side by side test of both yeasts but hey I trust SAF when they say Osmotolerant works best with sweet and acid mixes.

So to answer your question, my dough didn't appear slow and I made a point to be careful about the temperature (75F) after the final kneading.

As I was pushing this soft dough around I had the idea that next time I will use 50% of the ap flour and make up the balance with first clear. My hope is to develop the gluten a little better with the stronger clear.

Hope this helps.

Eric

tananaBrian's picture
tananaBrian

I have a confession to make ...I gave in to lust today.  I just sent for a pound each of SAF red and SAF gold, sigh.  My wife will complain that Sam's Club has instant yeast cheaper, but hey, I work too!  Since she's a strong supporter of whatever comes out of the oven, made by me, I don't think she'll complain too much... heh heh

Brian

 

zolablue's picture
zolablue

I remember you discussing that yeast on a thread a while back.  Good to know it works for sweet doughs.  I only have the SAF regular instant and didn't realize the gold could make such a difference.  Still, it is good to hear that others were able to bake these rolls without having to rise to double.  I have to put in another order with KA so maybe I'll give the gold a try.  Thanks!

okieinalaska's picture
okieinalaska (not verified)

Those look great! I will have to give them a try. I love sweet potatos! We even put them in our whole grain pancakes (just a mix) with a little bit of pumpkin pie spice, my kids can't get enough.

 

Amy in Alaska

Ruth Redburn's picture
Ruth Redburn

                Ruth Redburn

 Absolutely wonderful!  I made these after Thanksgiving with just a small sweet potato.  What size did most of you use?  I will definitely make these for Christmas making a double recipe since there will be many of us.  My husband loved them also.  I plan to share this recipe with a friend who is as mad as I am for this healthy, delicious vegie. 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

I made these last year for Turkey Day and they were a big hit. Great flavor that's a little unusual.

Eric 

Magrat's picture
Magrat

I made these rolls yesterday and they are awesome! Thanks for sharing the recipe.  Next time I want to use yams, they will make a beautiful coloured roll!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I think they were purple sweet potato buns.  Very colorful.  They looked more steamed than baked. 

I wonder what they would look like if an outside layer of yellow sweet potato bun dough was wrapped around a purple centered dough.  Could be interesting.  Or even two different colored batches of yellow sweet potato buns, marbled or rolled up together.  hmmm

Mini O

edit... I just found purple sweet potato flour.... in my local asian market.

ques2008's picture
ques2008 (not verified)

Great-looking rolls, Floyd.  Tell me, did the sweet potato keep the bread soft for 2-3 days?  They say using potatoes softens bread up until the 3rd or 4th day.

dstroy's picture
dstroy

I don't think we ever had enough left over for 3 days to answer - the kids absolutely LOVE these rolls and the longest we've ever had any left was the next day when they gobbled up any of the rolls that they hadn't had room for during the previous night's dinner.

Manang's picture
Manang

Here's a shorter way (and I think more economical way) to cook the sweet potato using the microwave:

Dip a sheet of paper towel in water to use for wrapping the sweet potato. Next, wrap this tightly with microwaveable cling wrap. Wrap a second time with cling wrap. Place in your microwave and choose the pad for potato.  If your microwave is not pre-set for specific cooking times, microwave for about 5 minutes and check doneness with toothpick. Microwave some more if not yet cooked.

Done this way, your sweet potato will stay moist and get really cooked without drowning in water.

devil's picture
devil

i've try to do this before, but with different cooking method.i steam it.

JeannieTay's picture
JeannieTay

Hi Floyd, I have just stumbled into this forum and this recipe sounds interesting. I would like to try making these rolls but am not sure about the weight of the sweet potato required.  Please help. Thanks in advance.

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

they are soooo good.  I baked them in the muffin pan, recipe makes about 18 medium-size ones. I did the egg wash and baked them alongside a container of steamy water. Wonderful !

Thank you for sharing, Floyd.

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

King Arthur has a sweet potato bun recipe which calls for 1 medium sweet potato equaling 3/4 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato, which I weighed out to be 6.5 oz.

JeannieTay's picture
JeannieTay

I did this recipe the first time using 300g of the mashed sweet potato and the 2nd time I reduced to 200g, which yields bigger crumbs. Both are chewy and soft. I love it! Kinda difficult to handle the dough because it's really quite wet.

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

equals 6.5 oz.   GREAT TO KNOW, JEANNIE !!!   This saves a lot of time, thank you so much !!

hullaf's picture
hullaf

I used up some leftover pumpkin squash (from the can) for a similar recipe and they've turned out just as good.

Orange of course.  pumpkin squash rolls   

(the buns at the top are Wild Yeast's hamburger buns - good as ever too!)

Janknitz's picture
Janknitz

I'm sitting here at work drooling on the keyboard.  I shouldn't be Fresh Loafing on the job!

Must

Try

Cinnamon

Sweet Potato

Rolls.

AAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

droidman's picture
droidman

Followed recipe precisely, except substituted 1/4 cup regular honey and t tbsp buckwheat honey for the sugar. Love the edge that the spices give. Will be making these for Thanksgiving. Thanks, Floydm. I think you are the king of rolls.

Amori's picture
Amori

I finaly got a chance to try these =-) Used what I had on hand:  I med Yam, 3T butter, brown sugar, 1 egg, as for the spice I used pumpkin spice[1/2 ts]  and very little cinnamon [less than 1/4ts avail :-( ] along w/1 C white wheat flour+2.5 C AP. Convection setting  was being used, so they were baked at 355F for 12 minutes. Def a keeper, [will try the sweet potato next!] thanks for posting!

 

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

"... [will try the sweet potato next!] ..."

Don't worry. You already did.

Amori's picture
Amori

You are right! I fell into the crowd's opinion and whole foods tag: 'Garnet Yam' when in reality they are Sweet potatoes LOL

BTW, just ate one w/cream cheese this morning, still tender, and so good!

audra36274's picture
audra36274

   The color is wonderful. Had planned on my Parkerhouse, but after seeing these I am adding them to the lineup. Enjoy your Holidays!

   Audra

Larry Clark's picture
Larry Clark

If I cut the dough into 12 equal pieces, will it be too much dough for baking the rolls in a muffin pan?

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I think it'll work about right.  Give it a shot!

KansasGirlStuckInMaryland's picture
KansasGirlStuck...

I made a test batch of these before Thanksgiving as I was looking for something new to take as my contribution to Thanksgiving at my friends.  These rolls are AWESOME!  I have been using 4+ cups of flour, but I think that is because the only sweet potatoes I could find were enormous.  The first batch was a little dense, but the flavor was A+.  I used dark brown sugar.  Well that first batch barely saw light of day they were so good.  I gave the batch for today a longer second rise and they are definitely lighter in texture.  I had to have one this morning for breakfast to make sure it was a good baking didn't I?

tananaBrian's picture
tananaBrian

We made these yesterday for our Thanksgiving dinner ...Yum!  I baked the yam (a "red yam") for an hour since it wasn't done at 45 minutes, then I ran it through my KA fruit and vegetable strainer.  We used white sugar in our since my experience is that white sugar produces lighter result.  I have another roll recipe that rises overnight and has you boil the white sugar in water for 5 minutes before using it (with the water of course) in the recipe, then the rolls get an overnight rise.

You can bake the yam (or sweet potato) the day before if you're going to have a crowded schedule in the kitchen like we usually do.  And for whatever reason, our try with this recipe rose slower than predicted ...but rise it did.  1-3/4 hours on the first rise, then 2-1/4 hours for the second, then 23 minutes at 375 in our oven did the trick.  The resulting rolls were just like in the picture ...light and airy for a bread that has a pile of sweet potatos in it.  Everyone loved them!

Brian

 

KansasGirlStuckInMaryland's picture
KansasGirlStuck...

Some of the homeless citizens of Howard County in Maryland, where I live, had these tonght as part of their dinner.  Truly a success.

A partnership with a local homeless shelter, some of the local churches and the Howard County government was formed several years ago to house the additional homeless people seeking shelter as the weather become colder.  Several of the area churches volunteer to provide food and shelter for the overflow of homeless that the homeless shelter does not have room for in their facility.  This week my church is hosting.  I prepared dinner for tonight, Farmer's Casserole (black forest ham, hash brown potatoes, eggs, milk, cheese and onion), broccoli, dump cake and a double batch of sweet potato rolls.  I was told repeatedly that I was welcome to provide those rolls every night this week and that I should pass the recipe on to the next church.  That reaction makes my aching back, knees and feet seem like a blessing.

 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

That's neat.   Glad to hear they were a hit and that it was a rewarding experience.

droidman's picture
droidman

I downsized the sugars (1/8 cup honey) and upped the salt about a half teaspoon, tastes not tending toward the sweet in my household. Stuck with 3-1/2 cups of flour and fought with the wet dough, but it was worth it. My sister-in-law asked for the recipe, which is the best compliment of all.

The leftovers worked really well with some habanero jelly.

droidman's picture
droidman

Used a large garnet yam, peeled and steamed, which turned out to be an excellent choice.

TessN's picture
TessN

I made these yesterday and they were just delicious!  My only change was to add most of the zest from one orange.  The aroma and flavor were great.  I will definitely make these again.  Thanks for sharing this.

flourgirl51's picture
flourgirl51

Floyd- do you think that this would work with winter squash instead of sweet potatoes? The rolls look great!

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I think it is worth a shot!  If you try it, let us know how they come out.

saltandserenity's picture
saltandserenity

I just love this idea.  Sweet potato rolls!! so pretty.

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Potatoes offer some starch and the squash is also higher in water content so you may need to compensate for that. Otherwise it sounds like a great idea.

tananaBrian's picture
tananaBrian

I want to make these for Christmas, but want to use SAF Gold, the osmotolerant yeast from SAF that Eric had such good luck with in how it performed with these rolls.  He said they rose very nicely (scroll way up or search upwards on 'ehanner' or 'Eric')

 

Brian

 

 

mmmyummy's picture
mmmyummy

that these would turn out well if soymilk were to be substituted for the milk? 

In general, there are many bread recipes that call for milk, butter, sour cream, etc.  Does anybody have experience with getting good results using non-dairy substitutes for these products?   Suggestions?  Suggestions?  Thank you

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

didn't work. Guess you need the milkfat.

anna

jyslouey's picture
jyslouey

Thank you Floyd for sharing this recipe and altough i'm a little late for Thanksgiving, I wanted to give this a try for normal consumption.  I don't know what the texture would be like if I used 100% AP flour and I decided to experiment with  350 AP plus 150 bread flour, 210grm of the orrange flesh sweet potato and approx 50 grms brown sugar.   I also managed to get some SAF gold label and this gave me a very good rise within 1 hr.  I'll try and make this with pumpkin another time. 

I couldn't wait and scoffed one of the buns before I took the pictures :)

moldyclint's picture
moldyclint

Made a sourdough version of these the other day, and I concur - delicious indeed!  Am now thinking of  (goes to check what others have done - yes, numerous examples) taking this in a cinnamon roll direction.  Thanks again!

Ashruff's picture
Ashruff

Old thread I know, but I was just thinking of doing the same! How much starter did you use, out of curiosity please?

AW's picture
AW

Hi Floyd,

I made these yesterday and they were supersticky, nearly impossible to shape. I know they're right because they look like your photos. The flavor was great though and the color beautiful.

If you ever do a more close measure of the potato and flour will you repost? I suspect those are the vague areas with which I could use your help. Or perhaps this is just the manner of this dough?

-Arlene

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I had some left over haikado squash (fine, dry) left over from oven baking for dinner.  The cold bits crumbled and I got to thinking about throwing together a yellow dough for a change.  The rolls were staring me in the face (thanks Floyd) and I got to wondering how these would be in something a little more like cinnamon rolls, snails rolled up and baked in a 8.5 x 11.5 inch (22 x 30 cm) pan.   I converted to metric using my cups and teaspoons and then using scales.  I reduced the salt and glad I did because I didn't need all the flour.  

Sweet Potato Rolls   (substitution of squash)   

  • 260g baked squash, fine pore, cold & crumbly
  • 236g milk  (3.5% fat or whole milk)
  • 96g Demerara brown cane sugar
  • 380g AP wheat flour
  • 120g AP wheat flour   added in 40g scoops at a time
  • 10g salt  (reduced from 11 to 12 g)
  • 6.2 g instant yeast
  • 0.2 g grated nutmeg
  • 1 g ground cinnamon 

Followed directions as in Floyds original posting at the top.  I liked the idea of pecans and dried fruit, maybe a little candied or grated orange peel if the kids let me.  I folded the dough after the 45 min bulk rise and let it rest 10 minutes to relax.   I stretched out a rectangle (using flour) and covered with 200g frozen blueberries, one tablespoon of brown sugar and hints of candied orange peel so that not more than 3 little tiny pieces ended up in each portion.  Rolled up the dough and cut into 12 pieces placing in a well buttered shiny 22 x 30 cm pan.   Then I stuck broken pecan nuts into the tops of each roll and let them crowd into one another while preheating the oven to 200°C.  Bake went fast and was done around 20 minutes with convection.  Brushed a sugar/vanilla/cream glaze over the tops while hot and they are scruptious warm and going fast!   Oozing with blueberries!

Big Edit: it's going to freeze tonight and so was putting a batch together and it went terribly wrong, well, not too terrible just drippy wet dough, then I thought the flour amount was too low.  Added more flour to correct the metric recipe above.  They are baking as I type.  Wonderful!  Hello lazy weekend!

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Wow.  Those look wonderful.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Now that the rest have cooled down, they are loosing their blue berry taste.   There are so many competing flavours.  I asked my son if he could tell if there were blue berries in the rolls, and he nodded, "no, not really," as he stuffed another one down.  "Sure are good though!"  was his reply when he could speak again.  I was concerned that the nuts and pumpkin notes were dominating.  I think they are taking over.  "Not a problem,"  came the response.  

I think it is.  I put all those blue berries into it, they ought to last a while.  Rolls are very moist and nuts on top are crunchy. Bright yellow crumb with dark veins of fruit, the little bit of added sugar helped the juices thicken.  The contrast is great!  

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Yeah, I can imagine that the blueberries might get overwhelmed by everything else in there.

I think I've been in Portland too long, because looking at them, the first modification that comes to my mind?  Bacon.  Holy smokes that would be good.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I can see chili pepper flakes (and I got strings!) and black pepper too!  When I had the dough rolled out it was trying to scream focaccia!  Do you believe it?  I had to keep focused.  (next batch)  

Bacon.   I ought to show you the chunk sitting here waiting to be cut.  "Kaiserfleisch"  743 g  made a few kilometers west of here.  How would you like it?   Bacon fried and covered in dough or crunched into bits into the dough or just lying on top during the bake with the drippings going down into the rolls?  Or how about tiny little cubes in the dough or with slivers of chilies or or think caramel, smoked bacon, served with a fried egg in the middle with a little melted cheese. the ol BLT!!!

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

I think, personally I would prefer running dripping crunchy bacon to blueberries :)

anna

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I got the bacon and I got the berries    :)

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I figured out a better order for filling.  

After rolling out, first the room temp ingredients with frozen berries coming last.  That way I don't have juice all over the place.   They also cut cleaner as the dough takes on some frost from the berries.  The cleaner look however does not look as appetizing when baked and glazed.   The solution is to save a few big spoons of berries on the side while the rest get rolled into the log.  Then after the cut rolls are placed into the pan, brush and slop the thawed out berry juice around.  

The dough did take a long time to double.  About 13 hours!  Not a problem.  :)  I did it on purpose.  I planned it that way. 

Let me back up a bit.  I like long wet times on my dough, feel it's healthier regardless what kind of grain used.  This recipe is no exception.  So... I mixed up the dough without yeast (like I forgot it) covered it and sat it in my drafty cold window at about 20°C.   About 10 hours later (when I was good and ready) tipped out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and spread it out keeping the top surface free of flour.  Sprinkled on the missing instant yeast and rolled it up.  Then kneaded for a few minutes until I felt the yeast well dispersed.  Put the dough back in the bowl, covered it and set the bowl onto my shelf above a radiator (27°C) and waited about 3 hrs for it to double.  It might have doubled a little sooner but that is when I remembered it.  I poked the dough with my finger and it did not deflate so it was just fine.   Proceeded to roll out dough, fill, roll up, cut, proof and bake.  Very nice crumb.  

Yerffej's picture
Yerffej

Mini,

This is not the first time that I have wondered why I even bother baking when I could just be eating at your house.

Jeff

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

:)   make it quick!   There's only one left!   

Here is a "before baking" picture:

Benito's picture
Benito

Those look amazing, great idea using sweet potato in sweet rolls Mini.  I like how you think.

Benny

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

from oven roasted squash yesterday. Pretty wet squash, oven baked it looked dryer but after a night in the fridge half a cup of water ran out.  Pretty tasty water. Hey, if Harry Potter drinks the stuff, why not?  Didn't get a lot of golden color but the crumb is soft and just the right amount of cinnamon to make it pleasant.  My SS cake pan has a lid so the first ten minutes was covered. Removed the lid after ten minutes and the spring took them high over the edge.  Shiny pan, bottom oven shelf.  Taking rolls to the Linz marathon Sunday.  One of my kids is running in the half marathon. 

jaywillie's picture
jaywillie

If you weigh your ingredients, I can attest that about 200g of sweet potato works, as others have posted. I roasted what I thought was a large sweet potato and came up with 217g, and I used all of it. My rolls came out very well. I did not measure the potato, so I can't add anything to that.

taurus430's picture
taurus430

This is an old thread but I'm still going to try and comment. I just started making dinner rolls and did experiment using sweet potato. I have several recipes and noticed they add 1 egg to the ingredients. Is an egg unnecessary when using sweet potato, as besides this recipe, another one I have does not add egg. The plain dinner rolls (no potato), seem to add an egg.

taurus430's picture
taurus430

I made sweet potato rolls for Easter  with left over sweet potato I had in the freezer. I used 1/2 buttermilk, 1/2 water and they were a big hit. After the rolls came out of the oven, I brushed them with butter/honey mixture. 

Today we made ham & cheese sandwiches on the rolls.......so good!!!!

marcoleavitt's picture
marcoleavitt

I would like to make these rolls for a Kwanzaa celebration on Thursday (Dec. 27) and could really use some helpful advice. I tried these once before and they came out very dense and not at all good. Nice aroma, but really difficult to eat. Can someone advise on what technique to use on kneading and shaping, and any other tips? When I tried to make them before the dough was very sticky and difficult to knead and they failed to rise much at all. After several hours of waiting for them to rise, I popped them in the oven hoping for a miracle oven spring, and it just didn't happen. I'm certain my yeast is fine, as I bake fairly regularly and have had no other problems with it.

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Hi Marco,

You could try doubling the yeast or using a super small sweet potato.  It should work using whatever kneading technique you usually use.  Good luck! 

-Floyd

mini_maggie's picture
mini_maggie

You know this thread has to be resurrected at Thanksgiving!

First time making these and using my bread machine to do the kneading and bulk rise.  Recipe calls for just one bulk rise before shape and proof - my bread machine dough cycle does one rise 46 mins, then stir down and a second rise 20-25 min.  Will the stir down and shorter second rise hurt, or should I rescue the dough after the first 45 min rise to shape and proof?

Another question is the rationale for AP flour vs bread flour.   Was tempted to try bread flour but figured I'd better stick to recipe first time.  Any reason not to use bread flour in these?

I've probably added too much flour - ended up using 3.5 cups for 218 g mashed sweet potato.  Dough is silky but not very tacky (was dreading a sticky dough-handling nightmare) - hopefully they won't end up too tough.

Thanks to all for sharing the wealth of experience here and especially to Floyd for this recipe!

Floydm's picture
Floydm

You should be fine with the short second rise and bread flour would work fine too.  

Good luck! I hope they turn out well.

mini_maggie's picture
mini_maggie

These turned out great and were a big hit.   Thanks for making a first-timer look good!

BobS's picture
BobS

Finally got around to making these. Really good. They won't last til Thanksgiving.

 

heavyhanded's picture
heavyhanded

First, thanks so much for putting this recipe up.

Second, thanks to everyone who mentioned not reading far down the thread...I didn't see that the dough was supposed to be sticky. Also thanks to all y'all who asked how much sweet potato to add - went for 3/4ths cup but used more due to distraction at opportune moment.

I had this can of yams and I made this recipe just to use it. After mashing and mixing up, I let dough sit for 10 minutes then started first knead. Dough was so sticky and I was leery of adding so much flour, but did anyway. Still sticky so I let it sit for another 10 minutes and again kneaded for 10 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Still sticky, not tacky so added a bit more flour (Gold Medal All-Purpose), kneaded some more and got it to a "satiny" feel so called it done and set it to rise.

Then I sat down to re-read thread and saw the part where it said dough was supposed to be sticky. When I went to poke test after 45 minutes I noticed how heavy the dough was. It finally passed the poke test after and hour and three-quarters.

I divided and shaped into 12 rolls, let rise another hour and a half, then baked. The canned yams were packed in syrup and I thought the final product would be very sweet but no, there is only a slight taste of sweet, cinnamon and yam (my nutmeg may be old.) The rolls were nice and squishy, with a pleasantly crisp crust.

I am once again amazed at how forgiving bread can be. Will be making again. Thank you!

11 rolls and one tore open

 

 

 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Glad to hear they worked out for you!

flour-power's picture
flour-power

Thanks for this sweet potato roll recipe, Floyd! Sweet potatoes are a pretty regular part of my diet, so it's no trouble to roast an extra one for these rolls. Here's a shot of last night's meal, spinach-lentil soup and those wonderful rolls. Oh, the color!

andychrist's picture
andychrist

Would an equal volume (3/4 cup) roasted carrot work as well as sweet potato in this kind of recipe, or would it not be starchy enough? What kind of adjustment might help? Thanks.

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Good question... I don't know. I've never baked with carrot like that. Anyone? 

If you give it a shot, let us know how it turns out.

andychrist's picture
andychrist

Okay I substituted carrot for the sweet potato, threw in a tablespoon of potato starch, came out fine. Another stupid question: Is it necessary to roast the SP before hand, or might it just be grated or pureed instead? Thinking this would heat up the kitchen a bit less in the coming warm months. Roasting does caramelize the tubers so perhaps there would be less flavor if they went in raw... or the hydration would be askew? Carrot puree at least could be reduced on the stove top. Dunno about  sweet potato though, suspect its starchiness might cause it to burn more readily in the pot. Carrots I bought today also seem much brighter orange than the sweet potatoes I just roasted, so might stick with them anyway just for the intensity of the color, if I can't discern any other difference in the bake.

mini_maggie's picture
mini_maggie

I know this is an old question, but just seeing it now getting ready to make these for Canadian TG again.

I have used both boiled and microwaved sweet potato, and both have turned out fine.  Prick the sweet potato skin and nuke for 5 mins.  The potato will be a little drier needing less flour added to the final dough. 

jlm5419's picture
jlm5419

I made these the other day, sprinkling frozen blueberries over the cinnamon/sugar mixture before rolling the dough. After rolling and cutting the rolls, I covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. They didn't rise much in the fridge, but once they warmed up, they rose nicely. The rolls were huge! After baking, I brushed the tops with a homemade blueberry glaze in lieu of frosting. They were delicious. Pretty too!

victoriamc's picture
victoriamc

These sweet potato rolls look wonderful.  I am inspired to try and make a whole grain version, or maybe just a transitional whole grain version.  Sweet potato is not that popular here in Germany, but these rolls look so perfect for autumn I will definitely be trying them, and blogging them!

antipex's picture
antipex

Per the advice of some of the other commenters I decided to make sweet potato cinnamon rolls with this recipe. I rolled out the dough after the bulk ferment and then proofed the rolls in the pan. The result was absolutely incredible! They're delicious, tender, and moist. Here's the filling and frosting recipes I used:

Filling

1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used unrefined rapadura sugar)
2 Tbsp cinnamon

Frosting

3 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

 

Rolled out with filling applied

Ready to proof

Fresh out of the oven

Frosting applied

Patti Y's picture
Patti Y

I know.....2007 recipe....but it is the day before Thanksgiving so I am making the recipe.

I am making the sweet potato dinner roll recipe, and I used my Instant Pot to steam the potatoes for 14 minutes. That may have put too much liquid in the recipe. I used all 4 cups of AP flour.

I am also making pumpkin dinner rolls using the same recipe. I added 300 g of canned pumpkin instead of 200 g of sweet potatoes. 

 

Questions:

Am I supposed to oil the bowl the dough goes in before the first rise?

If so, should I use canola oil or olive oil?

Has anyone tried the recipe with bread flour yet?

 

Thanks, Floydm. This gift (recipe)  just keeps on giving!

 

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Am I supposed to oil the bowl the dough goes in before the first rise?

Doesn't really matter, sure. I typically just give a shot of spray oil. This is so it doesn't stick.

If so, should I use canola oil or olive oil?

Again, doesn't really matter. I'd probably use canola because it is cheaper and has a more neutral flavour but do what you like.

Has anyone tried the recipe with bread flour yet?

Yup. Worked fine for me.

Ashruff's picture
Ashruff

These look oh so tasty!

Would it be posilsible you think to use sourdough yeast instead of instant? Im pondering hoe much you would need to replace within this recipe...

 

Happy Baking!