This purple sweet potato sourdough is earthy and lightly sweet, contrasting beautifully with the tartness of the bread (plus she’s an absolute stunner!).

Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough 💜

ultra tender ‘n soft

The purple sweet potato turns out to add not just a myriad of health benefits to a sourdough loaf (for its packed with antioxidants, as its bright hue indicates), but it also tenderizes the crumb– yielding an unbeatably soft loaf (and yes adding potato flour does the same thing, which is why its often added in commercial breads and to bread mixes!).

the deets

The recipe is simple: sub 10% purple sweet potato powder and 80% hydration.

If you know sourdough, then you already know that’s actually all the information you need from me to make it successfully (but if right about now you feel like a 10 year old sitting in an advanced calculus class– keep reading).

For sourdough bread recipes are, more often than not, given in percentages (as this allows bakers to scale with ease):

1. starting flour amount: 1000g unbleached bread flour = 100%
2. hydration: 800g spring water = 80% hydration (= 800g/1000g x 100% = 80%)
3. active starter: 200g (= 200g/1000g x 100% = 20%)
4. salt: 20g = 2% (= 20g/1000g x 100% = 2%)

Now, if you want to sub with an additional flour (from rye, to einkorn… to, yes, purple sweet potato), you’ll simply sub a percentage of the main starting flour:

1. starting flour amount: 900g unbleached bread flour = 90% (900g/1000g x 100% = 90%)
2. sub in: 100g sweet potato flour = 10% (100g/1000g x 100% = 10%)
3. hydration: 800g spring water = 80% hydration (= 800g/1000g total flours x 100% = 80%)
4. active starter: 200g (= 200g/1000g x 100% = 20%)
5. salt: 20g = 2% (= 20g/1000g x 100% = 2%)

i.e. you’re simply subbing 10% of your flour for purple sweet potato powder. 

(Ultra Soft!) Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough 💜

This purple sweet potato sourdough is earthy and lightly sweet, contrasting beautifully with the tartness (plus she's an absolute stunner!).

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

proofing time 1 day d

Course Bread

Cuisine American, European

Servings 1 loaf

Equipment

• cast iron bread oven (or pot) (yup, I linked mine!)

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 400 g spring water
• 100 g active starter
• 450 g unbleached bread flour *
• 50 g purple sweet potato powder
• 10 g sea salt

Instructions

 

make your dough

• Add the water (preferably at room temp) and active starter to a large bowl. Using your hands (though some peeps favor a danish hook) mix until thoroughly dissolved.
• Add in the flour, purple sweet potato powder and salt and mix with your hands until just combined and the dough is all shaggy (and sticky).
• Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.

30 mins later: bulk rise (plus stretch ‘n folds)

• Thirty minutes in you’ll want to do a set of “stretch ‘n folds”: grab a hold of the dough, stretch it upwards and fold it down towards the center of the bowl. Rotate and repeat four times.
• Repeat three more times every thirty minutes.
• Allow to rest for until at least doubled in size (remember that time here is directly influenced by temperature so it’ll vary greatly- anywhere from 5-10 hours)(p.s. I generally let mine go until it almost tripes as I’ve pushed it just until the point that it begins to recede back and it still comes out superb)(and I personally find it easiest to digest).

4-8 hours later: shape

• See video for guidance! Lightly flour your working surface, turn the dough out and stretch it out gently (allow it to rest for 10 minutes if it “feels” like it’s resisting)(you’ll know, trust me!). Stretch it out, fold the sides in, and roll it gently but tightly. You then want to roll it gently against the counter towards you a few times (this creates surface tension, making for a better crust!). 
• Transfer to a (very well floured or lined) banneton or small-ish bowl and cover with a paper towel, place inside a plastic bag and refrigerate for 12-72 hours (depending on how long you want to proof it for).

  Or allow to proof at room temperature for about 2 more hours, until it springs back to touch (you literally want to poke it gently, and if it springs back you know you’re golden)(though if it springs back too quickly it’s actually under-proofed)(and, you may’ve guessed it, if it doesn’t spring back at all you’re now over-proofed). i.e. this is why baking a few loafs and poking them around throughout it’s stages is highly suggested.

2 hours later: bake away!

• Preheat oven to 450°F/230°C with your Dutch oven inside for 20 minutes (some peeps bake at a lower temperature, say 420°F, it depends a bit on your oven).
• Score your loaf and place it in the dutch oven.
• Bake lid on for 20 minutes, remove lid and bake for 20 more minutes or until deeply golden brown (if you tap it on the bottom it’ll also sound hollow).
• Allow to cool completely if you want it at its best– but 20 minutes will do if you simply can’t hold your horses (and you don’t want to wreck your crumb).

  p.s. my best suggestion for storing your sourdough is to simply keep it in your bread or Dutch oven (what I do). But investing in a bread tin is neat too!

Video

Notes

*please note that all sourdough recipes on the site are developed around King Arthur's Organic Bread Flour (for consistency sake)(and because its my personal favorite "generic" flour to bake sourdough with)(but I generally also test all the recipes with other heirloom & heritage flours– Hayden Flour Mills makes some of my favorite blends). 

Keyword purple sweet potato bread, purple sweet potato sourdough

Whip up this recipe?Comment below or drop me a line @paola.vanderhulst and tag #gnomgnomyum!