Brown Butter Honey Sweet Potato Bread
Turn butter, honey, and sweet potato into amazingly soft and fluffy sweet potato bread. This is another level of Asian bakery style milk bread.
- Prep time
- 1 hr
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 16 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 140 gram/5 oz./10 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 packet (7 gram/0.25 oz./2.25 teaspoon) active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) lukewarm milk (~ 38 Celsius/100 Fahrenheit)
- 360-400 gram (~ 3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100 gram/7 oz.) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup mashed/pureed cooked sweet potatoes
- 16 tablespoon sweet red bean paste (optional)
- 2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- 1
Brown butter: melt unsalted butter in a small sauce pot on medium until foamy and light brown, then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- 2
Yeast solution: mix together yeast, sugar, and lukewarm milk. Set aside until foamy.
- 3
Bread dough: whisk together all-purpose flour, brown sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well, then add 4 tablespoon of brown butter, all the yeast solution, egg, and sweet potato. Knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky. You may need to add 1-2 tablespoon of flour if the dough is too sticky. Kneading time is around 20 minutes.
- 4
Transfer dough in an oiled mixing bowl. Cover with a wet kitchen towel/saran plastic, proof until the volume is doubled, about 1 hour.
- 5
Line a 9-inch round cake pan with a parchment paper. Set aside.
- 6
Melt 4 tablespoon brown butter (it may well be in solid state by now) and stir in 1 tablespoon of honey.
- 7
Punch the dough down to deflate and let out air bubble. Transfer to a floured surface, knead for 2 minutes, and divide dough into 16 portions.
- 8
Option 1 (Plain): Roll each portion into a ball.
- 9
Option 2 (Filling): Flatten each portion into a circle, add 1 tablespoon of sweet red bean paste, and roll into a ball.
- 10
Coat each portion with honey brown butter, and arrange on the prepared pan. Cover the pan and proof again until the dough fills the pan completely, about 1 hour in a warm kitchen.
- 11
Preheat oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit). Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.
- 12
Glaze: Melt the rest of the brown butter with the remaining tablespoon of honey to make the glaze.
- 13
Once the bread is out from the oven, brush the top with glaze for extra shine and even more brown butter honey goodness. Serve hot.