Sweet Potato Sourdough Buns

These Sweet Potato Sourdough Buns are the perfect addition to your homemade bread baking repertoire. Incredibly soft, with a hint of sweetness and a beautiful layer of flavor from the sweet potatoes, the texture of these buns will elevate all of your favorite sandwiches this summer. Inspired by an incredible breakfast sandwich I enjoyed on a birthday trip to Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, this sourdough sweet potato bun recipe is sure to be a favorite around your table too. You’ll love them with burgers, pulled pork, bacon and eggs, chicken salad, you name it. They’re beautifully golden on the outside and impossibly soft on the inside.

What you'll need in order to make Sweet Potato Sourdough Buns-

This is an enriched dough, so there are a few ingredients that are important for not only great flavor, but also helping the buns be extremely soft with a nice even crumb. We’re using milk, sugar, egg, and butter in this dough for a delicate and beautifully smooth, albeit a bit sticky dough.

As for the sweet potatoes, you can use either frozen or whole sweet potatoes. To use frozen, steam a 10-ounce package of frozen steamable sweet potatoes according to the package instructions, then mash them while still warm using either a fork or a food processor. Let cool to room temp uncovered. Leaving uncovered while cooling will allow excess moisture to escape which is important so we aren’t adding too much additional moisture to the dough.

Alternatively, you can roast 2-3 whole sweet potatoes in the oven at 375°F for 1 hour. Remove skins as soon as the potatoes have cooled enough to handle, then mash and let cool to room temp. I’ve used both types of sweet potatoes several times during my recipe testing and there isn’t really a noticeable flavor/texture difference in the final buns. Do be sure to mash them as smooth as possible, using a fork or food processor. Both ways have worked well for me. I typically use a fork to avoid extra dishes to wash.

We are using all-purpose flour for these sweet potato sourdough buns because we want the buns to be soft and we just don’t really need the extra protein that bread flour provides. When I tested using bread flour I felt like the buns didn’t relax as nicely on the pan as they baked, they were more inclined to keep the round ball shape. The texture was nicer and lighter with all-purpose flour.  

I highly recommend using a little bit of instant yeast for this recipe in addition to active sourdough starter. This combination gives a great flavor, but also the little bit of commercial yeast helps give the buns the really consistent lift that we’re looking for so that our buns are the right size and shape for a burger and that the crumb inside is a nice, consistent distribution of small holes instead of bigger craters for this particular recipe.

How to make Sweet Potato Sourdough Buns-

The mixing of this dough is done with a stand mixer with a dough hook, and I highly recommend you do the same. This sweet potato sourdough bun dough is quite sticky, and it relies heavily on working the dough really well to develop the gluten. It’s not a dough that is particularly easy or pleasant to mix by hand.

For dividing the dough, be sure to measure each portion so all the buns end up the same size. I find the easiest way to portion dough for buns is placing the bowl of proofed dough on the scale and pressing “tare” to zero it out. Then with floured hands I grab a portion of dough until the scale reads NEGATIVE 124 grams. This is just a way to measure how much dough I have removed and I don’t have to place the dough directly onto the scale or anything. Once you shape the bun and place in on the prepared baking sheet, press “tare” again to zero the scale out again and repeat the process or removing dough until scale reads -124 grams. Continue until all 10 buns are shaped and arranged on the prepared pans.

For shaping the sweet potato sourdough buns, treat each bun as you would a tiny boule/round loaf. Bring the edges of the dough up and toward the middle, pinching together and building surface tension just as you would for a round loaf. Then transfer to the prepared baking sheet with the pinched side down for final proofing.

Looking for more sourdough recipes?

Try this Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread that is our go-to everyday bread.

Or these Sourdough Bagels that I make multiple times a week. Happy baking!

Sweet Potato Sourdough Buns

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆

No reviews

Incredibly soft, with a hint of sweetness and a beautiful layer of flavor from the sweet potatoes, the texture of these Sweet Potato Sourdough Buns will elevate all of your favorite sandwiches this summer. You’ll love them with burgers, pulled pork, bacon and eggs, chicken salad, you name it. They’re beautifully golden on the outside and impossibly soft on the inside.

• Author: Mandy
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Proofing Time: 3 hours
• Cook Time: 18-23 minutes
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: 10 buns 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

180 grams milk, lukewarm

50 grams granulated sugar

185 grams ripe sourdough starter

58 grams (½ stick) unsalted butter, very soft

1 large egg, lightly beaten

245 grams cooked sweet potatoes, mashed and cooled (1 10-ounce package frozen sweet potatoes steamed according to package instructions OR 2-3 sweet potatoes roasted at 375°F for 1 hour, then remove skins, mash while warm, and let cool)

1 teaspoon instant yeast (optional but recommended)

500 grams all purpose flour

11 grams (1 tbsp) sea salt

Semolina flour, for dusting baking sheets

Egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with a splash of milk

Sesame seeds for topping, optional

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all ingredients. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed until dough comes together, then increase speed to medium/low for 7-10 minutes until sides of bowl are coming mostly clean. This dough will be rather sticky.

Transfer to large bowl sprayed with nonstick spray. Cover and let proof at room temp about 1 ½-2 hours until doubled.

Prepare 2 baking sheets by lining with parchment and dusting with semolina.

Using floured hands, shape into 10 balls, about 124 grams each. Be sure to form the balls into a nice, tight shape and build surface tension so they rise up nice and round. Arrange on prepared baking sheets (5 buns each), leaving several inches between the buns.

Cover and let proof at room temperature about 1 hour until nice and puffy. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F.

Brush buns with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

Bake at 375°F for 18-23 minutes until deep golden. Internal temp should be around 190-200°F.

Transfer to wire rack to cool before slicing.

Notes

Enjoy with your favorite burger patty, pulled pork, breakfast fixins, grilled chicken, or any sandwich goodies you can think of. For best results, cut in half, spread with butter, and toast the inside of the bun on a skillet or griddle until golden.

Keywords: sourdough, sweet potato, homemade buns, sweet potato bun, sourdough hamburger buns, sourdough sweet potato buns

Thank you so much for visiting Kitchen Joy. I hope you found inspiration to have some fun in the kitchen making something delicious!