Sweet Potato Flower Buns

When God give you lemons...you make lemon pies or anything lemony that fancy you. So when your good friend gives you a big bag of sweet potatoes...you make delicious Sweet Potato Bread!I am sure readers that come to read my new post must be wondering why aren't there anything else more interesting besides the same-old bread posts again?! Sorry if I let you down guys...I promise my next post will not be about bread (cross my heart!). Well, this time it's just that there is soooo many sweet potato sitting at my pantry and I really do not want to dump it away....and hence I have again chose to make bread out of them. :-P A staple that I can never get tired of eating. ;)

This recipe is actually inspired by a fellow Taiwan food blogger. I was really intrigued by her recipe and decided to give it a go. In this recipe, both white and orange flesh sweet potatoes were used. I did make some changes to the recipe as I did not go with the specific weight of the sweet potatoes suggested, and thus I adjusted as accordingly.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Buns:
250g bread flour
25g caster sugar
4g instant active yeast
3g salt
135ml fresh milk (adjust according to the moisture present in the sweet potato)
100g white flesh sweet potato, peeled, steamed & mashed
25g unsalted butter, room temperature

Method :

• Mix all ingredients except butter in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes to 2hrs.
• Punch out the air in the dough and divide it into 8 equal portions.
• Roll out each portion into a small ball and let rest for 10 minutes covered before shaping and filling.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Filling:
250g orange flesh sweet potato, peeled, steamed & mashed
20g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter, room temperature
15ml fresh milk

Garnish : 1 tbsp of roasted ground peanuts (optional)

Filling and Assembly:

• In a large mixing bowl, add together everything for the sweet potato filling and mix well till everything comes together.
  
• Take one of the dough balls, roll it out flat and put about 1 heaping tablespoon of the sweet potato filling in the center. Close and seal the edges tight. Then place the whole bun in your palm and roll it round. Place bun on to the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Then gently press down the bun so that it's like a round flat disc.
  
• Using kitchen sears, snip 8 slits on the edges of the buns and turn the edges face up in the same directions creating a flower effect. Or mold the buns to any form that you desire.
• Cover buns and let rest for 20 minutes before baking.
  
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the top of loaf with egg wash. Sprinkle some roasted ground peanuts on the top (optional).
  
• Bake the buns for 20 minutes till it's light golden brown. Cool on rack before serve.
  

Please do not worry if you do not wish to mold the buns into flower shape like what I did. Simply just place the filling in the dough and seal up, bake as it is....it's still very good. Well, as you can see, my bread molding work needs plenty of practice too! ;)
Verdict...one word, super-yummy-soft buns! The filling was just right, creamy and not too sweet, went perfectly well with the ever so soft buns. I wished I have made more! Try it out and you won't regret it.