Sweet Potato Bread

I adapted this from the recipe for rolls in Beard On Bread. Among the changes I made, I substituted bread flour and used quite a bit more than he calls for in the recipe. It isn't quite as light as Beard's original recipe which is fine as I wanted a hearty sandwich loaf.

This stuff makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches on earth. I'm serious. Cheddar cheese melted on a couple slices of this with butter-oh boy, is that ever good.

I've made this bread with butternut squash (a frozen block of it, at that) and it worked equally well.

You Will Need:

4 1/2 teaspoons granulated yeast
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup warm water
3 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
1 tablespoon salt
3 eggs (1 reserved for glaze)
3-4 cups bread flour (I ended up using close to five)
1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
2 tablespoons cream

Combine the yeast with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and sprinkle on the water. Stir to dissolve and let proof five minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add remaining sugar, butter, eggs and salt. Add three cups of the flour one cup at a time beating well after each addition. Mix in the mashed sweet potatoes. Add enough flour until you have a dough that is workable and no longer sticky. Knead a few minutes and place in a buttered bowl. Turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1-2 hours or until doubled.

Punch dough down and let rest a few minutes. Butter two loaf pans. Divide the dough, shape into loaves and place in pans. Let rise until almost doubled-about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush tops of loaves with cream and reserved egg beaten together. Bake 30-40 minutes or until dark and an instant read thermometer reads around 190 degrees F. Or bread sounds hollow when rapped. Cool on racks.