Matcha Purple Sweet Potato Shokupan

Prep Yudane

1. Boil water, add to 60g bread flour. Mix to combine until a sticky dough forms. Cover and store at room temperature for 4h or overnight in the fridge.

Bread Dough

1. Boil purple sweet potato and mash. Let cool.

2. Attach the dough hook onto your stand mixer. In stand mixing bowl, add bread flour, instant yeast, milk powder, sugar, salt, milk and yudane. Start mixing on low. Increase mixing speed (speed 2 on Kitchenaid) and mix for 5 minutes.

3. Add room temperature butter, small additions at a time. Increase speed of mixer (speed 4 on Kitchenaid), mix for 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

   Do a windowpane test to test if dough is ready. If not, continue mixing a while longer.

4. Split dough into two, return half the dough back to the stand mixer and add mashed purple sweet potato. Mix until just combined (do not over mix). Remove purple dough from mixing bowl.

5. Add remainder half of dough to stand mixer bowl, add Matcha powder. Mix until just combined (do not over mix). Remove matcha dough from mixing bowl.

6. Lightly oil two bowls. Place both purple and matcha doughs in separate bowls, leaving them covered to rise for 1-2 hours (it takes about 1.5 hours around 27C room temperature).

7. Once dough has risen and almost doubled in size, lightly punch dough down.

Shape Bread

1. Oil bread tin.

2. Starting with the purple sweet potato dough, roll out until it's a rectangle (size does not really matter - the long side should be facing you). Roll out the matcha dough until a similar size, and place on top of the purple dough.

3. Like folding a brochure, fold the left to meet the middle, and fold the right over the left.

4. Rotate the dough 90 degrees. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out.

   Continue rolling until the short end of the dough is approximately the length of your bread tin.

5. Roll the dough like a swiss roll.

6. Place it seam-side down in the oiled bread tin, cover and let sit and proof for another 45 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 180C.

8. Once bread is proofed (should further grow in size, when you gently poke the dough, the indent bounces back gradually), egg wash over surface of bread. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40 minutes until top is golden brown.

9. Let cool completely before slicing.

   Slice and store in freezer if not consuming within 2 days. Reheat in toaster, air fryer or oven.