Rose Bun (steamed mantou)

Recipe by Table for 2... or more

I fell in love with these when I saw them! They are soooooooooo pretty. So I had to make them. Which I did. And I'm deeply infatuated. I kept buying the Purple Sweet Potato to make these till the lady at the Supermarket asked me what do I use those Purple Sweet Potato for? I'm about the only customer who kept asking for them. LOL.

I was so happy because not only are these Purple Sweet Potatoes sweet for this bun, they are also perfect to steam and eat on its own, and for making sweet potato soup.

This is not the first time I made these Purple bun... about the 5th or 6th time. And I decided to halve the dough and substitute with Pumpkin! And viola!!!! Yellow bun!!!!

Pretty aren't they? *wink*

















Ingredients:

250gm purple sweet potato (skin removed, steamed)
200gm water
500gm plain flour
1tsp baking powder
10gm sugar
1/4 tsp salt
50gm unsalted butter (melted)
11gm instant yeast

Here's what I did:

1. Mash steamed sweet potato with 150gm water.

2. In a clean cup, dissolve the yeast in 50gm water.

3. Mix everything (except butter) in a bowl until combined to form a dough.

4. Knead in butter until dough is smooth.

5. Cover and let it proof until double for about an hour.

6. Punch down and knead for 1-2 mins.

7. Divide dough into group of 6 balls, each about 10-12gm (6 balls form one rose).

8. With a rolling pin, flatten each ball into flat round shape. Line them up, overlapping each other in a straight roll.

9. Starting from the bottom piece, roll the 6-overlapping-dough swiss roll style. As tight as you can.

10. With a slightly damped chopstick, saw the rolled dough into half. Place it on baking paper.

11. Steam on high heat for 10-15mins.

psst psst...
* To keep them overnight, let it cool completely and store in fridge.
* To make the yellow pumpkin bun, I replaced purple sweet potato with pumpkin and reduced water to 160mg total (pumpkin tend to have higher water content).
* The dough will continue to proof during shaping time, so unless you want FAT roses, you have to work fast. Otherwise, keep the dough in the fridge covered to slow down the proofing.