The author and cook, Heather

Sweet Potato Onion Bread

Deep Run Roots

This was a long process, even longer than I am used to for a yeast bread. I'm still not sure where I went wrong (everywhere?), because the loaves weren't at all like I expected, texture-wise. It was very tasty though!

Captions

[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather before I explain exactly
[00:08]: what we're going to do today I am going
[00:11]: to combine this water with some yeast
[00:14]: because this water has to be a specific
[00:18]: temperature and I don't want to talk so
[00:19]: long that it like goes down so or it
[00:22]: gets too cool so combining water and
[00:27]: yeast this water is at between 105 and
[00:33]: 115 degrees so now we let this sit for
[00:40]: 10 minutes so now I can talk to you
[00:43]: alright
[00:47]: today we are working from the deep run
[00:51]: roots cookbook right here and we are
[00:55]: making sweet potato onion bread and so
[00:59]: this is as you can see this takes up two
[01:04]: fold
[01:05]: page spreads so this is going to be
[01:07]: interesting we had a bunch of sweet
[01:14]: potatoes and it's getting warmer here we
[01:18]: had them in the oh actually I need to I
[01:20]: need to mark my 10 minutes now right
[01:22]: okay
[01:24]: they were sitting in the garage and it's
[01:25]: getting warmer so they were about to
[01:27]: start to go bad because you know it
[01:29]: likes cooler temperatures so we decided
[01:31]: we were just going to roast them all all
[01:33]: the ones that we have left like she does
[01:36]: in the book just roast them in their
[01:39]: jackets and then we took them out we
[01:42]: peeled them and pureed them and
[01:44]: we put them in the freezer in freezer
[01:47]: bags so we're gonna be using some of
[01:50]: those for this recipe that's why we
[01:53]: chose to make this recipe it's a yeast
[01:57]: bread but this is all of the eat yeast
[01:60]: that's in it and this is a starter so
[02:04]: we're gonna let this sit once we combine
[02:05]: everything we're gonna let this sit
[02:08]: overnight before at like on on the
[02:12]: counter at room temperature before we
[02:14]: assemble the bread tomorrow so I'll be
[02:19]: back in nine minutes
[02:24]: my yeast has been in the water for ten
[02:29]: minutes and it is time to mix that with
[02:32]: bread flour so pre-measured the bread
[02:35]: flour and so I'm gonna stir this up a
[02:39]: little bit just to make sure that the
[02:41]: yeast is all mixed in still cuz we are
[02:47]: going to use some of this but not all of
[02:51]: it which doesn't makes a lot of sense to
[02:54]: me but that's what the recipe says so
[02:59]: [Music]
[03:03]: pouring it over the measuring cup so I
[03:08]: don't spill it
[03:11]: I maybe have learned something maybe all
[03:16]: right so we're going to put this in the
[03:17]: bowl with the pre-measured bread flour
[03:20]: and we are going to whisk it and she
[03:23]: says this makes a very sticky starter
[03:26]: and at this point it does not look like
[03:30]: a starter at all it looks like there's
[03:35]: not enough liquid
[03:36]: I don't feel like this is right
[03:47]: [Music]
[03:51]: hmm like I can't even get all this mixed
[03:57]: in that's helpful for my hand so maybe I
[03:59]: haven't learned anything okay I feel
[04:03]: like we need more of this water here so
[04:13]: I'm gonna add it all I guess why not I
[04:25]: feel like that is much closer to a very
[04:29]: sticky starter it's still time to closer
[04:33]: to bread dough than anything but a very
[04:35]: sticky bread dough I am going to cover
[04:38]: this with plastic wrap and we're going
[04:41]: to leave it since I get as much of it
[04:43]: off of my hands as I possibly can and
[04:45]: we're gonna leave it out at room
[04:50]: temperature overnight I think she says
[04:53]: up to 12 hours so we'll be back in the
[04:59]: morning
[04:59]: to finish this up our starter has been
[05:03]: bubbling away overnight and it looks it
[05:06]: looks good look the yeast is doing
[05:07]: something so hopefully we've got about
[05:09]: the right texture and I'm sure we can
[05:10]: make it up with flowers necessary but I
[05:13]: did some calculations last night and
[05:16]: this recipe is gonna take like six hours
[05:19]: or so so we're gonna try to do it a
[05:21]: little in a little bit of a different
[05:22]: order than what she says or actually
[05:24]: combined some steps so right now we're
[05:27]: going to caramelize some onions I have
[05:30]: my pan with the oil neutral vegetable
[05:33]: oil over medium heat trying to just heat
[05:37]: up the pan get the bobbin covered and
[05:40]: this is a lot a lot a lot of onions um
[05:46]: these are all gonna go in here and
[05:48]: they're gonna cook for at least 30 to 40
[05:50]: minutes until they're caramelized with a
[05:53]: little bit of salt so it's even here
[05:58]: and then she says go ahead and put the
[06:01]: salt in so I'm gonna do that
[06:07]: wat onions they cook down a lot
[06:20]: and now we just cook it for a long time
[06:25]: until they're golden and we're gonna
[06:27]: stir it as we as we need to occasionally
[06:32]: make sure it doesn't stick and she
[06:36]: doesn't say this but sometimes if they
[06:37]: start to stick or it gets a little bit
[06:39]: too high you can put a little bit of
[06:40]: water in it it'll eventually cook off
[06:42]: anyway if they start cooking a little
[06:44]: bit too fast there's a lot of my news
[06:45]: here I don't think we're gonna cook too
[06:46]: fast but we're gonna get started on the
[06:49]: dough because we don't need this until
[06:52]: after the dough has been made although
[06:55]: what you have to cool this a way we're
[06:57]: gonna get started on the dough while we
[06:59]: watch this probably won't show you this
[07:01]: until it's done but I'll let you know
[07:03]: about how long it takes okay be back in
[07:06]: a minute now that our onions are cooking
[07:10]: because those are going to take a while
[07:11]: and this will take a little while too
[07:13]: we're going to get our bread dough
[07:14]: started we have the bread flour more
[07:19]: bread flour here and some lukewarm water
[07:21]: here and we are going to mix this
[07:24]: together with a wooden spoon or your
[07:26]: hands I don't really want to use my
[07:28]: hands so I'll use a wooden spoon until
[07:30]: we just have a rough wet dough
[07:39]: hopefully it will be wet I swear my my
[07:42]: flour tends to get up the rider than
[07:44]: anybody else's because I always feel
[07:46]: more water than they say look see it's
[07:54]: certainly not it's a rough dough but
[07:56]: it's certainly not a wet dough but I am
[08:03]: going to call that okay for now I think
[08:10]: next we add our starter and some other
[08:13]: wet ish ingredients so I'm gonna call
[08:17]: that okay and we're going to cover this
[08:20]: and let it sit for 10 to 20 minutes just
[08:26]: to rest we recover it with plastic wrap
[08:30]: rest for 10 to 20 minutes and we'll be
[08:32]: back in our dough is been resting for
[08:35]: about 20 minutes now and we put it on
[08:38]: our mixer with the dough hook and we're
[08:40]: gonna add the rest of the ingredients
[08:41]: including our starter which has been
[08:43]: sitting out overnight so I'm gonna start
[08:46]: with some salt there's a lot of salt in
[08:49]: this but I'm sure it's fine I think it
[08:53]: makes two loaves I'm gonna add the sweet
[08:57]: potatoes these are roasted pureed sweet
[09:02]: potatoes we've done this a couple times
[09:04]: I think we've made the soup toes in
[09:07]: their jackets and then the citrus sweet
[09:09]: potato butter is what it's called so
[09:11]: I'll try to link those here I need some
[09:15]: honey I'm just going to use this I need
[09:20]: just a very small amount this will help
[09:23]: me measure it and get it out of the
[09:27]: measuring thing easier if it will come
[09:30]: out of this this is a Tupelo Honey which
[09:37]: doesn't crystallize I don't know if it
[09:41]: ever does but it is it's harder for it
[09:44]: to crystallize
[09:46]: but the rest of my honey-honey is
[09:48]: crystallized which will probably be fine
[09:50]: it tastes fine it just is not liquid so
[09:55]: it's harder to get to especially when
[09:57]: it's in a squeezy bottle so it won't
[09:59]: come out this came with a honeycomb in
[10:07]: it so that's why I'm trying to keep the
[10:09]: honeycomb in the bottle while I pour the
[10:12]: honey out
[10:19]: let's just put this in and then it went
[10:33]: in the sink at least my next I'm gonna
[10:39]: add our starter that we made last night
[10:42]: this is all bubbly so it definitely was
[10:47]: working it definitely looks wetter today
[10:50]: hopefully I can get smells yeasty
[10:53]: hopefully I can get it all now
[10:55]: relatively very sticky
[11:10]: so now we're gonna mix this for a really
[11:15]: long time she says about 15 to 20
[11:17]: minutes until it is smooth and silky and
[11:21]: wraps around the dough hook probably
[11:24]: won't watch you show you the entire
[11:26]: process but we'll get it started and she
[11:30]: says to resist the urge to add more
[11:34]: flour it will come together it's gonna
[11:37]: be a sticky dough
[11:41]: it is very steep now I've started it at
[11:45]: Loeb I'm going to turn it up to medium I
[11:47]: as she says in fact personally I scrape
[11:52]: a little bit of this down because that
[11:54]: will never well until it gets really doe
[11:60]: bolli stage it won't ever get
[12:02]: incorporated so all right all right I'm
[12:07]: gonna turn it on turn it up to medium
[12:08]: high
[12:15]: our bread has been going for I think at
[12:18]: least 20 minutes I didn't really time it
[12:20]: but it took a long time really needed
[12:24]: the the reminder not to add flour it's
[12:28]: going to be a wet sticky dough because
[12:31]: it was very tempting it really looked
[12:33]: much more like a batter for the first at
[12:36]: least 10 minutes and then it kind of
[12:38]: started to become a dough and by 20
[12:41]: minutes it looks like this and I was
[12:43]: going to just show you what it looks
[12:44]: like you see after it rested for a
[12:47]: little while I went back to being more
[12:49]: batter like but it did come back
[12:51]: together around the dough hook now I
[12:58]: have a large bowl she says at least
[13:00]: three times as large as your dough and
[13:06]: she says to coat it with pan spray pan I
[13:12]: don't keep that in the house so I have
[13:15]: just spread it with a little bit of the
[13:17]: same vegetable oil I am using on the
[13:19]: onions so and then turn the dough out
[13:23]: into the bowl maybe there we go yep
[13:34]: that's pretty good and we're gonna let
[13:36]: this rest for 20 minutes now after 20
[13:40]: minutes our onions need to be done and
[13:44]: they're not quite done yet it's been
[13:47]: more than 40 minutes mine don't have
[13:49]: much color but they're starting to get
[13:51]: color on them so I'm gonna wash my hands
[13:55]: we're gonna get our onions done and
[13:57]: cooling and we'll be back in 20 minutes
[13:60]: for this our bread is been resting our
[14:02]: dough has been resting for about 20
[14:05]: minutes our onions took we'll see this
[14:10]: about an hour actually more like an hour
[14:13]: and 15 minutes to get here they started
[14:15]: just getting mushy instead of getting
[14:16]: too caramelized we called it done
[14:19]: they're still pretty warm in the
[14:21]: refrigerator and I have them sit
[14:22]: nice pack just to kind of cool him off a
[14:25]: little bit faster after this I'll just
[14:26]: leave them on the counter because we're
[14:29]: gonna what we're gonna do right now is
[14:32]: divide this in two quarters we're gonna
[14:34]: put a quarter of it in here fold the
[14:36]: dough over it turn the dough over and
[14:39]: then let it rest for 20 minutes and
[14:41]: we're gonna do that four times so and
[14:47]: after the fourth time then we leave it
[14:49]: resting for two hours and 40 minutes so
[14:52]: this is going to take some time I'm
[14:54]: going to show you this time but probably
[14:56]: not the other time so we've got another
[14:57]: recipe we're working on at the same time
[14:59]: and they're both very complicated so we
[15:03]: won't be able to film everything but so
[15:04]: I'm going to divide this into about
[15:07]: quarters put this on top mine looks much
[15:14]: paler than hers but that's okay
[15:16]: and she says to fold each corner up over
[15:19]: top my bull doesn't have corners but I
[15:22]: think I understand the the goal here
[15:30]: still very sticky so hopefully that's
[15:32]: what it's supposed to be like you'll see
[15:34]: I think it's a lot stickier than hers is
[15:39]: but now we're supposed to turn it over
[15:42]: and now we let it rest for 20 minutes
[15:47]: that was a lot easier than I expected so
[15:50]: I'm gonna let it rest for 20 minutes and
[15:52]: we're gonna do that again rest for 20
[15:54]: minutes do it again respiratory minutes
[15:55]: do it again and then it rests at in a
[15:58]: warm place I'm probably gonna put it in
[15:60]: my drawer I've got the oven on low so
[16:02]: it'll be warm I've got a warming for
[16:04]: bread proofing anyway I don't have it on
[16:07]: but the ovens on and we're gonna let it
[16:09]: sit after that point for two hours and
[16:11]: 40 minutes as I said so we'll see you in
[16:14]: about I don't know three hours we're
[16:18]: done with the rising part of the first
[16:20]: rising part of this and as you can see
[16:23]: it rose a lot it's kind of overflowing
[16:27]: my bowl it it is overflowing it is
[16:34]: sticking to
[16:35]: not too bad sticking to my plastic wrap
[16:37]: but we're going to turn this out onto
[16:40]: this floured work surface I said that
[16:45]: and then it started sticking more okay
[16:47]: and and we're going to start shaping it
[16:51]: still very sticky very warm may have
[16:57]: over proof but you know we'll see I was
[17:02]: a little concerned that there was only a
[17:04]: small amount of yeast in this recipe but
[17:08]: well it rose so I'm going to turn this
[17:14]: out onto my work surface and hopefully
[17:17]: it will come out the bowl there we go
[17:30]: all right
[17:32]: very sticky very huge okay
[17:44]: now the goal is divided to divide it in
[17:47]: half and to shape those halves in two
[17:51]: rounds so I'm going to use my pastry
[17:56]: cutter getting it in a roughly
[18:01]: round shape cutting it in half and see
[18:08]: those layers of onions coming out now
[18:11]: [Music]
[18:13]: and I didn't plower enough
[18:23]: but think
[18:31]: that is roughly round this is not the
[18:35]: final shaping so that one looks a lot
[18:44]: better I kind of folded some over all
[18:54]: right so that's done
[18:56]: now we let it rest again for 10 minutes
[19:01]: I'm gonna clean my hands let it rest for
[19:04]: 10 minutes and we'll be back he's been
[19:07]: resting for about 10 minutes and now it
[19:09]: is time to shape them kind of it's very
[19:13]: weird my my bread guy has been reading
[19:18]: the LA farm
[19:20]: bread book by Lionel machen a he's a
[19:23]: local Baker he's from France if you
[19:27]: couldn't tell and he has not heard of
[19:30]: any shape knowledge I'm not saying that
[19:32]: it is unusual or that it doesn't exist
[19:34]: but I have never heard of this type of
[19:36]: bread shaping before so I don't know
[19:40]: exactly what I'm doing following the
[19:41]: directions and we'll see how it turns
[19:44]: out for each of these you need a
[19:49]: parchment lined baking sheet with dusted
[19:54]: with flour so I have both of those
[19:59]: prepared I did put a little bit of flour
[20:01]: on top of here just because it was very
[20:03]: sticky and I know I have to put my hands
[20:07]: in it again
[20:07]: I'm going to poke your finger down
[20:11]: through the middle and
[20:17]: lift this up and transfer it a little
[20:21]: gracious transfer it that's not
[20:25]: happening this is very sticky still this
[20:30]: is au shape it once it's on okay so now
[20:35]: we have our not very round I want to
[20:40]: move this over here so hopefully you can
[20:42]: actually see me shape this very round
[20:49]: anymore
[20:50]: whatever we're supposed to be making
[20:53]: this look like a large flat doughnut
[20:56]: with approximately a three inch hole
[21:01]: I guess that's so it doesn't get too
[21:05]: tall in the middle I really don't know I
[21:08]: really don't know why I'm doing this
[21:10]: except for the instructions tell me -
[21:12]: and supposed to look like a large flat
[21:19]: don't let my whole won't stay very well
[21:24]: but
[21:30]: I think that's the best I'm gonna be
[21:34]: able to do with this so we're gonna
[21:36]: switch it out and do it again and maybe
[21:38]: I'll do better this time
[21:39]: all right okay I'm gonna leave that be
[21:45]: as it is pretty good as good as I can do
[21:48]: anyway then watch my hands
[21:51]: I'm going to cover these with plastic
[21:54]: wrap and they're going to raise in a
[21:58]: warm part of your kitchen I'm going to
[21:60]: put one in my warming drawer and one
[22:04]: probably in the microwave just so it's
[22:05]: out of the way for an hour and a half
[22:09]: then we're gonna bake them as soon as I
[22:13]: can probably about half an hour before
[22:16]: you heat the oven up to 450 degrees and
[22:19]: you set your racks up so that you can
[22:23]: bake one in the lower third of the oven
[22:25]: and one in the upper third of the oven
[22:26]: and then you switch them around in the
[22:28]: middle so I'm gonna get all that set up
[22:30]: and we'll be back in an hour and a half
[22:34]: this has been rising proofing for
[22:39]: probably an hour 15 minutes or so yeah
[22:45]: almost hour and a half but it looks well
[22:49]: risen so I'm going to take off very
[22:53]: carefully take off the
[22:59]: plastic wrap this one course it tries to
[23:07]: stick there at the end there we go
[23:12]: can I get the other one so I put them in
[23:15]: two different places what they both seem
[23:18]: to have risen similarly so that's good
[23:22]: and now my oven is still heating because
[23:27]: I got stuck in my hammock for a little
[23:30]: while not literally but we're gonna put
[23:38]: these in the oven one in the lower third
[23:42]: of the oven and one in the upper third
[23:44]: of the oven I'm going to set a timer for
[23:45]: 15 minutes 15 minutes I'm going to
[23:49]: switch them around and then after 15
[23:54]: minutes they should be done and we'll
[23:56]: let you know what they look like we'll
[23:59]: be back
[24:08]: on this episode of cooking the books
[24:10]: with Heather you watch me make sweet
[24:12]: potato onion bread out of deep run roots
[24:16]: now this recipe required a lot of time a
[24:22]: lot of steps some of it is hands off but
[24:26]: a lot of it is not and we already had
[24:29]: the pureed sweet potato sweet potatoes
[24:33]: ready to go which is why we decided to
[24:35]: make this recipe because we had a bunch
[24:37]: in the freezer but even so there's
[24:41]: making the starter the night before
[24:44]: there's mixing up the dough and letting
[24:46]: it sit and mixing up the dough and
[24:49]: letting it sit and making the
[24:52]: caramelizing the onions which mind never
[24:54]: caramelized quite right which I'm not I
[24:57]: don't know what the problem is with that
[24:59]: why it did what why they do why they
[25:01]: don't sometimes I don't know I decided
[25:06]: it was fine they were fine like they
[25:08]: were and there's a you fold those in
[25:13]: every 20 minutes and let it rise and
[25:16]: then it's a very wet dough and I don't
[25:19]: know if I did it right and my bread guy
[25:22]: my bread guy my camera guy my sound guy
[25:26]: is the same guy he makes bread more than
[25:30]: I do he wasn't sure what was going on
[25:34]: with it or what it should be like I I
[25:38]: was heartened by seeing her bread in the
[25:41]: pictures look a lot like mine but ours
[25:45]: did not turn out very well I think it
[25:48]: may be over proofed at some point it
[25:53]: yeah it was just it didn't get a good
[25:57]: thick crackly crust like it seemed that
[26:00]: it was supposed to when I I did rebake
[26:05]: sort of the leftovers we have a loaf
[26:07]: still in the freezer so I'll probably
[26:08]: bake that again when we want to serve it
[26:11]: but we had leftovers and I baked those
[26:13]: up a bit and I enjoyed the flavor it was
[26:16]: good I liked the onion in it kids
[26:22]: they I mean I thought it was bread they
[26:24]: would eat it they didn't whatever um
[26:28]: they don't particularly like the sweet
[26:31]: potato or the onion in it so they mean
[26:34]: they ate a little bit but not all she
[26:38]: does use this to make a sandwich and I'm
[26:40]: not sure how that happens cuz ours was
[26:43]: not sturdy enough inside to hold a
[26:48]: sandwich it was pretty pretty mushy even
[26:51]: though it seemed like it was done on the
[26:53]: outside so it wasn't worth the effort
[26:57]: not so much for us if you maybe had this
[27:01]: at her restaurant and I don't think we
[27:04]: ever did but if you had this at theirs
[27:06]: her restaurant and know what it's
[27:08]: supposed to be like maybe maybe it's
[27:11]: something you want to make but do
[27:12]: recognize that it's going to take a lot
[27:16]: of time not a lot of special ingredients
[27:18]: and we you are able to it does to use
[27:23]: the mixer stand mixer to mix it although
[27:27]: we kind of had to hold it down while it
[27:31]: was mixing it so it wouldn't walk all
[27:35]: over the place and fall on the floor so
[27:39]: if you have all that if you have the
[27:42]: time and you think you might like it go
[27:44]: ahead and try it we probably won't be
[27:47]: making this again and I'm guessing if we
[27:50]: make the sandwich that she uses this on
[27:52]: we'll probably pick another sort of
[27:54]: crusty country-style bread to make that
[27:57]: on maybe or we'll try it on the bread
[28:01]: that we have in the freezer and if that
[28:03]: doesn't work we'll try it some way to
[28:05]: some other right anyway all that to say
[28:10]: didn't work for us might work for you
[28:14]: good luck if you enjoyed watching me
[28:19]: make this please give me a thumbs up and
[28:21]: subscribe to come back and watch me make
[28:25]: something else next week
[28:27]: [Music]