Spiced Sweet Potato Bread

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (2 medium or 1 very large)

  • 3 tablespoons water

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

  • 1/4 cup buttermilk (or yogurt, Greek yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk powder)

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

  • 2 teaspoons baking soda

  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

  • pinch salt, optional and to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray one 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (what I used), or two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans, or a 10-cup Bundt pan, or a muffin pan with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan(s); set aside.

  2. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into 1-inch sized chunks. Place chunks in a large, shallow microwave-safe bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water, cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high power for 15 to 17 minutes, or until potatoes are very fork-tender. Pour off any water. Mash sweet potatoes with a fork. Allow them to cool momentarily so you don't scramble the eggs.

  3. To the sweet potatoes, add the eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and whisk until combined; set aside. (I used buttermilk powder and added 1 tablespoon powder to the dry ingredients and 1/4 cup water to this wet mixture)

  4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients - flour, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, optional salt, and whisk to combine.

  5. Pour the wet sweet potato mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir to incorporate. Take your time stirring until no stray bits of dry ingredients are visible, folding and scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spatula as necessary because it's very easy to miss dry ingredients hiding at the bottom of the bowl in this batter. Stir and fold with a gentle hand as to not over-mix and over-develop the gluten, which results in tougher bread.

  6. Turn batter out into prepared pan(s), smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes for a 9x5 pan, or until top is domed, golden, loaf is springy to the touch, and cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Tent pan with foil in the last 15 minutes of cooking if top is browning a bit fast before interior has cooked through.

  7. Allow bread to cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from averiecooks