Japanese Sweet Potato Bread

I haven't been updating my blog for the past 1 week. I was busy preparing for my Dutch test held at the university earlier this week and then I caught a cold and just as I thought the first cold or flu was gone, now I am suffering from a second bout of flu. I am sure that they belong to different strains, one more serious than the other, and I am also quite sure that I caught it from my son who got it from the creche. Honestly the creche is a hot bed of all viruses, I have lost count of how many times I have fallen victim to the viruses from the creche. The funniest thing is, His Majesty my son never seemed to suffer as badly as I did from any of these viruses or bacteria. Apart from a constant runny nose for the past 1 week, he didnt cough or show any signs of sluggishness. His immune system is definitely better than mine, thanks to the breastfeeding he had til he turned one! Now as I am writing, I am sniffing and coughing and the skin around my nose is all sore and peeled due to the persistent sneezing and rubbing. I should take a winter flu shot if it helps me to battle all these cold and flu attacks for the coming winter.

Anyway back to the bread I baked few days ago, it is called Japanese Sweet Potato Bread. No, the sweet potato I bought from Colruyt was not from Japan, I have no idea where it was imported from, it could well be a holland or belgian sweet potato. This is a sponge dough recipe from Alex Goh and the result is a soft, springy bread, that has a slightly sweet flavour. I was hoping that the flavour would be more intense, but alas, my sweet potato was not made in Japan, so it wasn't that sweet after all. But His Majesty finished 2 pieces of the bread when it came straight piping-hot from the oven. :)

Recipe adapted from Alex Goh's Baking Code

INGREDIENTS A
300g bread flour
35g sugar
3 g salt
1.5 tsp instant yeast

INGREDIENTS B
60g overnight sponge dough
(Click here for the overnight sponge dough recipe)

INGREDIENTS C
145g cold water
30g eggs (half of an egg)

INGREDIENTS D
120g sweet potato, cooked and mashed with fork
30g butter

METHOD
1. Mix ingredients A until well-blended. Add in ingredients B and ingredients C, knead to form a dough.

2. Add in ingredients D, continue to knead to form a smooth and elastic dough.

3. Mould the dough round, place it in a bowl and cover with cling wrap. Place in a warm place to allow it to proof for 45 min.

4. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and mould it round. Place the 6 pieces of dough into a greased loaf tin. 

5. Let it proof for 50-60 min or until its size doubles.

6. Bake at 180C for 25 min.

This post has been submitted to YeastSpotting.