These pillowy potato buns made the best breakfast sandwiches EVER. Just saying. # 179: Sweet Potato Buns

Happy Saturday! This is me owning up to the fact that all of the buns were drastically different sizes. This is what you get when you don’t weigh your dough portions, folks! But they all have the same lovely light texture and yummy, slightly-sweet flavor, so I’m taking it as a win.

Have you ever had potato bread? It used to be my absolutely favorite for sandwiches growing up. (Did anyone else eat straight bologna sandwiches in middle school? Oh just me? Ok.) It’s so soft and it always seemed to have more flavor than regular white bread.

You can thank the mighty potato for that! So far in my bread journey, I’ve found that if you want a light and airy texture, you have to suffer through a very wet dough that’s just not user-friendly. But then potatoes entered the arena and the game changed. Potato starch is super thirsty and traps more water than wheat flour. This makes the dough easier to shape without the end result being super dry. Another perk is that the chubby potato starch molecules (that are now full of water) get in the way of gluten formation in the flour, resulting in a lighter, softer crumb.

When I think sweet potato, I think bright orange. Berkeley Bowl has been throwing me for a loop though – all the sweet potatoes I’ve gotten there in the past few months have been white when I cut into them! Of course, I haven’t been spending tons of time meandering the produce aisles in these pandemic times, but I’m sure I could also find orange sweet potatoes if I looked hard enough. Whichever color you get, sweet potatoes are still slightly healthier than a classic potato, so I give you full permission to say these rolls are good for you. Go forth and eat lots of them!

Also aren’t these ramekins so so cute? I found them in a thrift shop in Cayucos and just had to get them. As someone who loves teal and uses more ramekins per day than a restaurant kitchen, it was meant to be.

Lil mashed sweet potato, ready for it’s bread debut.

Have to admit, felt a little weird adding mashed potatoes to my mixer bowl . . .

Yet another shout-out to dough hooks. You take the mess out of kneading loose dough and I love you for it.

I sadly didn’t get a picture of it ballooning up to great heights in my giant metal bowl, but just look how floof it is!

Find a spot of counter that doesn’t have flour on it (I know it’s hard but there’s probably a small corner somewhere that doesn’t look like it snowed) and roll a hunk of dough around quickly. The friction of the flourless surface will help convince the dough to stay in the ball you’re shaping it into. That and a stern look usually do the trick.

My favorite proof is the second one, after you’ve shaped whatever loaf, bun or roll. I feel like that’s when you get to see the real magic of yeast.

A dash of egg wash, a sprinkle of everything seasoning, and away we go!

Oooo, aaaaahhh. Bring on your fried eggs and cheese. Or in true summery spirit, fire up the grill and whip up some burgers! Or if you’re me, you eat two of them straight while trying to decide on a filling. You do you, my friend.

Happy munching!

Recipe from: http://thewoodandspoon.com/sweet-potato-buns/