Sweet Potato Buttermilk Rolls recipe

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Butterfly and I feted at our friend's house.  Butterfly spent the day in the backyard pool while I spent the day cooking and gabbing and being thankful for friends, good health, and lots of love in my life. It was a glorious day and best of all, I came home with the prize: the turkey carcass!

Yesterday that carcass boiled in a HUGE pot with onions and herbs, filling the house with delectable aromas.

Today I strained off the bones, replacing them with carrots, celery, more onions, potatoes, and more herbs.  I made two batches of noodles to put into the soup for later and made a batch of sweet potato rolls to take back to our friend's house to finish our festivities.

Sweet potatoes fresh from the garden

The rolls turned out spectacularly! I dug the (tiny) sweet potatoes out of my garden, washed them, microwaved them, squished the innards out of the skins, mashed them with a fork, and then mixed them into the buttermilk along with the rest of the ingredients.  I'm not exaggerating how good these rolls are.  The recipe came from Pinch My Salt and is one of the best recipes I've tried in a long time. The recipe note at the bottom is from the author.


Sweet Potato Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
1 cup mashed sweet potato or yam, slightly warm or at room temperature*
2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup sugar
2 packets active dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 – 7 cups bread flour
1. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together mashed sweet potato, buttermilk, egg, butter, sugar and yeast. (I learned the hard way that it is best to whisk these ingredients by hand rather than using the mixer. I ended up with buttermilk splattered all over the kitchen when I tried using the paddle attachment!) Now let the mixture sit for a few minutes while you measure out about 7 cups of flour.

2. Using the paddle attachment for your stand mixer, stir in one cup of flour along with the salt. Gradually add more flour, about a cup at a time, until a soft dough begins to form.  If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook (use a wet hand to pull the dough off the paddle attachment and it won’t stick to you) and knead on medium speed (speed 4 on the kitchen aid) for 6-7 minutes, adding a little more flour as needed to make a moderately soft dough that mostly clears the sides of the bowl (the dough should eventually clear the sides of the bowl, but continue to stick to the bottom as it’s being kneaded).  My dough took about 6 1/2 cups of flour, but yours made need less or more. If mixing and kneading by hand, dump the dough out onto a floured surface when it gets too hard to mix with a spoon.  Using well-floured hands, knead the dough for 8 – 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to work surface and hands.

3. When you finish kneading, the dough should be moderately soft and tacky, but not sticky.  To remove it from the bowl of your stand mixer, a bowl scraper is handy.  If you don’t have one, a plastic spatula will also work.  Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to form a smooth ball of dough.  If you kneaded by hand, form the dough into a smooth ball.  Cover dough with a towel, and clean out your mixing bowl.  Spray the inside of bowl with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with butter or oil. Place ball of dough, smooth side down, into the greased bowl.  Turn the dough over to grease the other side, then cover with the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap.  Put bowl in a warmish place and let dough rise for a little over an hour or until it has doubled in bulk.

4. When dough has doubled (you can check by pushing your finger into the dough. If an indentation remains without filling in, the dough is ready to go), push it down with your fists to deflate it and dump it out onto a lightly floured surface.  Cut the dough in half with a knife or bench scraper then cut each half into 8 equal pieces (or more if you want smaller rolls).  Cover pieces with a towel and let rest for a few minutes before shaping. While dough is resting, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and move two oven racks towards the center of the oven.  Also, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Shape rolls by rolling against the work surface or between your hands to form balls.  I like to pull the skin taut over the top of the roll and pinch at the bottom to form a smooth roll, but use whatever method works for you.  Divide the rolls between the two baking sheets, and cover with a towel.  Let rolls rise for about 20 minutes then remove towel and sprinkle the tops very lightly with flour.  Place baking sheets in preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until they are puffed and lightly brown.  Rotate sheets halfway through baking time (move bottom to top and vice versa).

5. Let rolls cool slightly and serve immediately.  Or, if making ahead, let rolls cool completely on wire racks then place in Ziploc bags.  To reheat, wrap rolls in foil and place in 375 degree oven for a few minutes until heated through.

Recipe Notes: *For sweet potato puree, I microwaved 2 medium sweet potatoes for about 7 minutes (poke holes all over with a fork first). Let cool then peel off skins. Pass the potatoes through a ricer if you have one, or mash well to remove any lumps. Measure out one cup (it’s ok if you have a little less) and proceed with recipe.  Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature, if the dough is cold it will take longer to rise.  The amount of flour is an approximation, your dough will use more or less depending on many different factors.  Don’t worry too much about how much you use, just mix a dough that you are comfortable kneading.  I made 16 rolls and they were on the large side, perfect for making little sandwiches.  If you prefer small rolls, you can cut the dough into 24 pieces or even more.  Keep in mind that smaller rolls will probably bake a little faster.