sweet potato ginger bread

I’m getting more engrossed in Stephan Pyles’ The New Texas Cuisine. This recipe comes directly from the book. He calls for pumpkin but recommends sweet potatoes as an alternative if pumpkin isn’t in season. I made this quick bread following the directions but ran into some problems. I think that I ended up with too much batter, as my loaf pan overflowed in the oven, thus necessitating that I finally clean the blasted thing! How annoying! Plus, to add insult to injury, even though my toothpick came out clean, the center of the bread wasn’t fully done. Next time, I’m choosing a flatter dish in the hope that it will cook more completely. That said, this recipe is spectacular and very, very gingery.

crystallized ginger

molasses and dark corn syrup are key

sweet potato ginger bread

¼ cup butter
½ cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
juice of ½ orange
2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1&3/4 cups pureed)
2 tbsp diced candied ginger
3 cups flour
5 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
¼ cup dark corn syrup
½ cup molasses
1 tsp baking soda
¾ cup boiling water

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Boil sweet potatoes until soft all the way through. Drain. Remove peels and blend to puree with food processor. Strain to remove any stringy bits.

Cream together butter, oil and brown sugar. Mix in eggs one at a time. Fold in orange juice, sweet potato puree and candied ginger.

Sift flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt and baking powder together. In a separate bowl, mix corn syrup, molasses, baking soda and boiling water. Gradually combine flour mixture with creamed sweet potato mix, alternating with the corn syrup mix. Pour finished batter into baking dish. Bake until toothpick comes out clean. The book recommends about an hour for a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.

We had ours for breakfast. Yum!

sweet potatoes and orange