Breadmaking Noob: (Not So) Sweet Potato Loaf

Due to the lack of working space in my kitchen, I decided to move out all my baking stuff into our unutilised dining area. P/S: We have our meals at in-laws' place everyday, cos you know, they live just right across the road. :p 

I used the extra Ikea metal rack that we had sitting in our studies to store all the baking goodies. May not look like much, but at least it's space! We were seriously running out of storage space in the kitchen.

I wouldn't say we have a lot of junks in the kitchen, though I am pretty sure there are SOME things we can discard. Plus, our already limited kitchen counter top has been monopolised by Baby A's stuff e.g. steriliser, blender, bottle racks, etc. There are practically no more space for anything else, what more for baking or cooking.   

So, out goes the breadmaker and the toaster for now- onto a table that sits 8. And with a ceiling fan! 

Come to think of it, perhaps the kitchen renovation was done previously with a hindsight that E would remain single and will not be utilising the kitchen much. There are too much dead space and very little storage space. Now that Baby A and I have invaded his home, and that I have started to pick up on cooking (or baking), we may need to remodel our kitchen and certain other areas of our home. Haha.  :p

Anyway, with this new arrangement for my baking experiments, I did my Sunday baking (so that we have breads for Monday mornings) with far more comfort and space; and less sweat.  

Using the same basic recipe from the Nutella loaf, I substituted the Nutella with some sweet potato puree. I had one whole piece of sweet potato left and they were beginning to sprout! I didn't dare give it to Baby A, so I decided to just add it into the loaf instead.

This time, I stuck to the original recipe of using milk instead of water. I've finally gotten a bottle of olive oil, so I used that in replacement of the grapeseed oil called for in the recipe. Since olive oil has a lower resistance to cooking heat compared to grapeseed oil, I am not sure how this would affect the result of the bread. But I suppose it should be okay for baking. As usual, I am all for the trials and errors.

Again, I had the machine knead the dough twice. Once using the "Dough" function and another using the full "White loaf" cycle. And again, I found the dough slightly dry at the beginning, though not as dry as the Nutella loaf. So I added just a tiny splash of water and let it continue kneading.

  

First and second knead. It seems to have passed the "finger-poke" test, so figured it was good to go and left it to the machine to proof and bake.

 

Done in slightly over 3 hours! Soft and remained so until the next day. ^^

The sweet potato puree perhaps contributed to the sweetness of the bread, but there weren't much of the actual sweet potato taste. And do forgive the uneven slices. Both E and I had difficulties slicing the breads.  :p

But the uneven slices shouldn't be an issue anymore, cos the bread slicing guide thingamagic that I purchased from www.zenzendream.com has arrived (right the next day)! No more out of shape/too-thick/too-thin bread slices!

There was once a time when I couldn't be bothered with accessories like these. Now, I get excited over cooking equipments, utensils and accessories. How things have changed. Hehe.