Sweet potatoes are a wonderful addition to bread dough—they add sweetness, color and flavor. This is a perfect recipe for leftover baked or roasted sweet potatoes, or you can bake a potato specifically
for use in the bread. Don’t use canned yams in this recipe—they’re too watery, even after they’re well drained.
Makes 1 (8-inch) round or square loaf
For the dough
½ cup cooked sweet potato flesh
1 egg
½ cup sugar
2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
½ cup room temperature water
2½ cups (11¼ ounces) bread flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Nonstick baking spray
For the coating
3 tablespoons hazelnut meal (or almond meal)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
On prep day
1. Combine all of the dough ingredients and knead by hand (mix first in a large bowl, then turn out and knead) or in a stand mixer
fitted with dough hook, until the dough is elastic.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour in a warm room.
3. Divide the dough into at least 24 pieces. They don’t all need to be the same size, and in fact I encourage you to make them random.
Cut more than 24 pieces if you like.
4. Spray an 8-inch round or square baking pan with baking spray.
5. Combine the coating ingredients in a small shallow bowl or plate and roll each piece of dough in the coating, then pile them into the prepared baking pan. You don’t need to make an even layer, and you don’t need them to go all the way to the edges of the pan—this is supposed to be a bumpy-lumpy interesting-
looking bread.
6. Cover the pan with plastic wrap or place it in a large plastic bag and tie the open end closed. Place the pan in the refrigerator overnight or up to 24 hours.
On baking day
1. Remove the pan from the refrigerator and heat the oven to 325°.
2. Remove the plastic and bake the bread until it is nicely browned and the internal temperature registers 190° on an instant-read thermometer, about 45 minutes. Let the bread cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool for another 20 minutes or so before serving.
