Spiced Sweet Potato Rolls

Tweet

As I mentioned in my earlier post , sweet potatoes are power houses of nutrition and I try my level best to find new ways to include this wonderful food in our diet. Since the inclusion of sweet potato in Roti's (Indian flat bread) enhanced the softness and texture of the roti, I was very keen to try using sweet potato in a bread roll. I was curious to see if the sweet potato enhanced the softness and texture of bread too. When I found exactly two sweet potatoes left in my potato basket, I thought this would be a great way to use them up. 

So I started out on these rolls and was very pleased with the outcome. The bread was soft and chewy and the sweet potatoes did really seem to improve the texture of the bread, in addition, the inclusion of cumin, black pepper and red pepper saved the bread from turning bland and made it far more interesting. Though this bread tasted great in sandwiches and as a side for soups, I enjoyed it just on its own too, with nothing added to it. For some true fusion, try this with some hot and spicy chutney applied to it or use it instead of your regular burger buns.

Some more views of the rolls.......

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make the spiced sweet potato rolls

3/4 cup oat flour ( I processed rolled oats in the spice grinder to a fine powder, you can use store bought oat flour too)

1 cup whole wheat flour ( atta)

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1 1/2 tsp quick rise yeast ( See Notes)

2 tsp brown sugar 

1/2 cup warm water

2 medium sized sweet potatoes (yielded about 3/4 cup of cooked and mashed potatoes)

1 1/4 tsp salt

4 tsp flax seed meal ( see notes) (optional)

1/2 tsp dry crushed red pepper (or according to taste) (optional)

3 1/2 tbsp olive oil (or any other oil)

Dry grind

1 tsp cumin seeds

pinch of carom seeds (ajwain) (optional)

1/4 tsp whole black pepper

A little butter or smart balance for brushing on top (optional)

In a large bowl mix together oat flour, whole wheat flour, salt , wheat germ, flax seed meal and keep aside.

In the microwave, cook the sweet potatoes with the skin until soft and slightly shriveled ( I placed the sweet potatoes in a large microwave safe bowl with a little water and cooked on high for about 3 to 4 minutes turning the potatoes around every minute) Cool the sweet potatoes and remove the skin. Mash the potatoes and keep aside.

In the spice grinder or blender dry grind the cumin seeds, carom seeds ( if you are using it) and whole black pepper until powdered reasonably fine. You can grind it coarse if you like to taste the bite of the spices in your bread. Add the ground mixture into the bowl with the dry flours and mix well.

Add the crushed red pepper if you plan to use it to the dry flour mixture and mix well.

In a small bowl add warm water and mix in the sugar and yeast into the water and keep aside.

When the yeast froths up, usually takes about 5 minutes pour the water + yeast mixture into the bowl with all the dry ingredients. 

Add the cooked sweet potatoes to this mixture as well and knead well until the dough is soft, pliable and non sticky. (about 5 to 6  minutes)

Add olive oil (reserve 1/2 tbsp) and continue to knead the dough (for about 2 to 3 minutes)

Apply reserved 1/2 tbsp olive oil to the dough and keep the dough covered in a warm place to rise for an hour.

After an hour when the dough has doubled, gently flatten the dough, knead a few times and divide the dough into eight equal sections.

Line a baking sheet/ tray with parchment paper and keep aside.

Roll each of the eight sections of dough, slightly flatten it and place on the lined tray about an inch or more apart.

Cover the tray and place it in a warm place for about another hour or so.

Preheat oven at 375 deg F

Bake for 15 mins or until done. Remove from oven brush some butter or smart balance on top and bake again for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot with soup of choice, or use this bread to make sandwiches or burgers.

Refrigerate the balance and use within a couple of days. Warm the bread after removing from refrigerator before use

Yielded 8 rolls

Notes:

The sweet potatoes contain moisture too, so I have used only 1/2 cup warm water and between the two there was enough moisture to bind and form the dough.

I used quick rise yeast instead of active dry yeast since I ran out of active dry yeast.I have found rapid rise yeast to be more potent and much more stronger, so I used less of it. You can easily use active dry yeast in its place. Just use about 2 tsp of active dry yeast instead of rapid rise yeast for the above proportions and proceed with the rest of the steps given.

The flax seed meal is not used as a substitute for eggs in this recipe, just used to make the bread healthy ,so it can be omitted if you do not want to add it. 

The bread was very very mildly spiced, so if you like more heat then you can increase the quantity of whole black pepper or crushed red pepper according to taste.

These rolls are off to the Think Spice- Think Pepper event being hosted by Divya originally started by Sunita 

These rolls are also off to the Yeastspotting event being hosted by Susan