Ube Swirl Bread (Purple Yam Swirl Bread)

4.75 from 4 votes

Ube Swirl Bread (Purple Yam Swirl Bread)

Soft, fluffy bread beautifully swirled with purple yam. Ube swirl bread is infused with the sweet nuttiness of ube halaya. Enjoy this bread plain, toasted, or with additional halaya!

Yield: 10-inch round

Prep Time50

Cook Time55

Dough Rest Time1 30

Total Time3 15

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American, Filipino

Servings:

Author: Maryanne Cabrera

Ingredients

Ube Paste:

1 ½ pounds purple yam peeled (or use purple sweet potato)
5 Tablespoons canned coconut milk unsweetened, well shaken
4 Tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

Dough:

2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (7 g)
¼ cup granulated sugar (50 g), divided
1 cup whole milk warmed to 110 °F
⅓ cup unsalted butter, (76 g) melted
¼ cup sour cream (58 g)room temp
1 large egg room temp
4 cups all-purpose flour (520 g)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (3 g)

Filling:

1 cup ube paste (recipe above)
⅓ cup unsalted butter softened

Instructions

Ube Paste:

Wash and peel purple yams. Slice into equal sized large chunks. Place in a steam basket. Set over pot of simmering water. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until yams can easily be pierced with a fork.
Set aside and allow yams to slightly cool. Mash yams with condensed milk and coconut milk. Mix may be a little chunky. If you would like a smoother paste, pulse in a food processor. Keep chilled until ready to use.

Dough:

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp sugar in warm milk. Let sit for 5 minutes to allow yeast to activate.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup sugar, melted butter, sour cream, and egg. Add yeast mixture and stir to combine.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Attach dough hook to stand mixer. Add flour mixture to mixing bowl 1 cup at a time with the mixing running on low. Once all the flour has been added, increase speed to medium and knead for 2 minutes.
Transfer dough to a lightly greased large bowl. Cover and allow dough to rest for one hour until dough has doubled in volume.

Filling and Assembly:

Combine 1 cup of ube paste with softened butter. Set aside until ready to fill dough.
Grease a 10-inch round cake pan (or 9-inch) and line bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
Punch dough risen dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Roll dough out to a 21 x 12-inch rectangle. Evenly spread ube paste over rolled dough, leaving an ½-inch border along the sides.
Starting at the longer end, roll dough into a log. Pinch seams together and place log seam-side down on work surface. Use a sharp knife to slice log in half lengthwise, leaving about 1-inch uncut on top.
Carefully twist the two pieces to allow the filling to face up. Gently braid the two pieces together. Take the two ends and pinch together to form a circle. Place in prepared cake pan. Cover and allow dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes until dough has puffed up.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Remove cover and bake dough for 40 minutes. If dough is browning too fast, cover with foil to prevent bread from burning. Rotate pan and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until internal temperature of dough registers at least 185° F on a kitchen thermometer. Allow bread to remain in pan for 15 minutes before unmolding. Cool bread on wire rack. Serve bread warm, toasted, or at room temperature.

Notes

Ideally, the ube paste filling should be made with purple yam, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk and butter. However, fresh purple yam is very difficult to find in the United States. It is easier to find frozen ube, powered purple yam, or prepared ube jam (called ube halaya).
Use prepared ube halaya instead of making ube paste! Purchase jars or cans at Filipino supermarkets, large Asian grocery chains, or online.

DOUGH SLIGHTLY ADAPTED FROM BAKE FROM SCRATCH

Nutrition