Japanese Purple Sweet Potato Buns

My latest obsession is baking bread. So far I’ve jazzed up my favourite recipe for soft and fluffy honey buns with green onion and pork floss, kabocha and sweet potato. On my last trip to the supermarket I saw some gorgeous Okinawa Japanese Sweet Potato so I bought some to make purple sweet potato filled buns! Look at the gorgeous natural stunning purple colour of this potato! I didn’t use any food colouring or artificial flavours in this recipe, so these stunning Japanese purple sweet potato buns are au natural.

For the bread component of this recipe please check out my recipe here. This is just the instructions for the filling and wrapping.

Purple Sweet Potato Filling

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To prepare the filling, peel your sweet potatoes and slice them into 1 inch rounds. Lay them on a plate and try not to stack them. Steam them for 15 minutes until the potato is fork tender. Transfer into a bowl and mash with a fork.

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Mash the potato into a chunky texture and add your condensed milk and coconut milk. Mix until the mash comes together. I prefer the consistency to be on the chunkier side. For a smooth filling, blitz it in a food processor for a few minutes.

Form the mash into balls using a cookie scoop (to ensure equal filling portions). Set aside until needed!

Bun Shape Method – Knot and Flower

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Once your dough has proofed, measure out the dough into balls so that each bun is equally sized. I made two shapes – twisted knots and flower shaped. For the knots I used this instructions in this video. For the flower shape I just wrap the dough around the sweet potato paste and then flatten the ball slightly with my palm. Make five cuts into the ball halfway to the middle.

Let the buns proof for another 20 minutes before brushing an egg wash on the buns. Place them into a 400 degrees F oven for 15 minutes and golden brown.