Ube Bread

This deep purple-colored, sweet and fragrant ube bread has the most desirable taste coupled with super tender and soft crumbs. Made with purple yam paste, this Filipino ube bread recipe makes a perfect regular and special occasion sandwich bread.

Ube is the purple yam that is indigenous to the Philippines. It is used as a flavoring agent for ice creams, cakes, cupcakes, and desserts, for making ube jam i.e. ube halaya, and jellies, filling desserts and bread, rolls, pandesal, etc.

It is often compared with purple sweet potato. And does taste like them but more in terms of texture and lesser in flavor. It is less sweet than sweet potatoes.

It has a sweet mellow aroma, which is slightly comparable to vanilla, but with a very low note of vanilla (not much). Ube needs to be sweetened to make fillings.

Today we are making an ube flavored bread. It will give you a reminiscent flavor of ube, but a texture of sandwich bread.

Is ube bread same as ube pandesal?

Pandesal (pan de sal) refers to salty Pilipino bread rolls. It could be made with different flavors like butter, cheese, ube, or pandan.  Ube bread could be ube milk bread, which would be sweeter in taste whereas ube Pandesal has to be salty. Also, pandesal is always made in form of dinner rolls, whereas ube bread could be a loaf, rolls, or a batard.  So, ube bread is not same as ube pandesal.

What will you like about this ube bread?

• Fluffy and pillowy homemade eggless bread.
  
• Easy and quick bread recipe ready in under 4 hours.
  
• Soft and tender crumbs.
  
• Sweet and fragrant ube flavor.
  
• Bright purple-colored bread.
  
• Can easily be made vegan by substituting whole milk with vegan milk and butter with vegan butter or margarine.

🍶 Ingredients for making ube bread

Bread flour:

Bread flour can be replaced with all-purpose flour but this recipe will not work as such. You will have to reduce the amount of water. Please do not use this recipe as such if you use whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour. Then you would be complaining about the dough not coming together, being too wet, too difficult to handle, and all. Please use bread flour to replicate the results of this recipe.

Whole milk:

Whole milk act as a tenderizer as well as a hydrant. You can replace it with any plant-based milk of your choice for making vegan ube bread. The best alternative would be oat milk or soy milk.

Instant dry yeast

I have used instant yeast as it is fast acting and makes quick bread. But you can surely use active dry yeast. If you are using active dry yeast, it needs to be bloomed in warm milk with sugar.

Ube paste

So, you will need some sort of ube flavoring agent for making the ube bread. I have used ube paste. It has a strong flavor and bright purple color. You can use ube powder, ube extract, or fresh ube paste.

To make fresh ube paste you will need to boil fresh ube and then mash it like mashing potatoes. You can also buy boiled and sweetened fresh ube paste in Asian markets.

Salt

This is not pandesal ( salty bread), but more of a sweet ube flavored bread. We need just enough salt to balance the flavors.

Butter

Since we have already used salt in the recipe, it is better to stick to unsalted butter. But if you only have salted butter, skip salt from the recipe. Also, the butter needs to be softened or melted if added with the wet ingredients.

Sugar

You can use granulated sugar or any other sugar of your choice. Use vegan sugar if you want to make the ube bread vegan.

🍞 Procedure for making ube bread

Step 1 Make ube bread dough

Start by combining all the dry ingredients, i.e. bread flour, instant yeast, salt, and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer. Use a whisk to combine them well. In a jar combine whole milk with ube paste. Give it a whisk and mix the ube paste and milk homogeneously.

Now place add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and place the bowl on the stand mixer.

Start kneading at low speed (2 for KitchenAid) and keep kneading until the dough comes together and starts to leave the sides of the bowl. It should take about 8-9 minutes. Then bump up the speed to high (6 on KitchenAid) and knead for 2 more minutes. The dough should become smooth by now.

The next step is to add butter in 3 stages. One tablespoon at a time and keep kneading until it is fully incorporated. Add more and keep kneading until butter is incorporated well and the dough becomes smooth and shiny.

The ube dough should not be sticky and should be smooth to the touch.

Step 2 Bulk Fermentation

Now, remove the dough from the bowl of the stand mixer and place it in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let the dough proof in a warm corner of your kitchen. In winter you can also place it in an oven with lights turned on.

Bulk ferment the dough until it becomes double in volume. It would take about 2 hours on a cold day and 60-90 minutes on a warm day.

Since we are using instant yeast it should take less time than the live yeast or dry yeast dough. So, adjust your timeline depending on the type of leavening agent used. It is always better to go by the volume of the dough risen than by any timeline as the ambient temperature highly influences the fermentation.

Step 3 Shaping the ube loaf

When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it to deflate and remove on onto a flour-dusted work surface. Use the tip of your hands to flatten it and form it into a rectangular sheet. The width of the dough sheet should be about one and a half inches (1 ½ ) less than the length of your loaf pan. I am using a 9x4 inch Pullman loaf pan ( though I am not making a Pullman loaf). So, I kept the width of the ube dough sheet at 7 ½ inches.

You can also use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangular sheet.

Now start rolling the dough sheet into a tight log while rolling the sheet gently. Carefully lift the ube loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan.

Step 4 Proofing the loaf

Now cover the loaf pan with an oiled cling wrap and let it proof in a warm corner of your kitchen. When the dough rises about an inch well above the rim of the loaf pan at the center of the pan, it is ready for baking.

Step 5 Baking ube bread

Preheat the oven to 385 ^oF and bake the ube bread for 30-32 minutes. Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the loaf pan.  Then remove onto a cooling rack and let this purple yam bread cool for 30 minutes before slicing it. Use a sharp serrated bread

Variations

You can make your own version of ube bread. A few suggestions are as follows:

1. Ube bread rolls. Make ube flavored dinner rolls.
   
2. Ube cheese bread. You can fill the bread with cheese cubes. It could be folded in the loaf as cheese shreds or cheese cubes in ube rolls.
   
3. Ube swirl bread. So, for making this kind of ube bread, only half of the dough will be ube flavored and the remaining will be plain white dough. Something like this matcha swirl bread.
   
4. Ube milk bread. This will be like Japanese milk bread, but with ube flavoring in form of ube paste or ube powder.
   
5. Ube brioche bread. Yes, you can make a brioche with ube flavor. It will be super rich and tender bread with a fragrant ube flavor.
   
6. Fresh ube stuffed. For this kind of bread, you need boiled fresh ube, which is mashed and further cooked with sugar. Then this sweet ube paste is filled in the dough rolls and baked as ube rolls.

🍽 How to serve Ube bread?

You can serve this ube bread as a loaf of regular sandwich bread. It makes for great bread for special occasions. It is best for making sweet sandwiches like cream-filled Japanese sandwiches, peanut butter, and jelly sandwiches, etc.

🫙How to store Ube bread?

Freshly baked eggless ube milk bread can last 3-4 days at room temperature if stored properly.

 It is best stored by wrapping it in a cotton cloth or a cotton bread bag. Place it in a cool corner of your kitchen or in a bread box.

Do not refrigerate it, but you could freeze it if you baked it in bulk and want to store it for longer. To freeze place the entire loaf or slices in a freezer-safe bag, with air squeezed. Now wrap it with a double layer of foil, mark the date and place it in the freezer. It will last for months.

💭 Pro Tips

• Use bread flour for best results and do not substitute with regular flour or whole wheat flour.
  
• Ube paste has a stronger taste and color than most ube powders that I have tested. So, if you can not procure fresh ube, go for ube paste or ube extract.
  
• I have used butterfly brand ube paste, if you use some other brand, the exact amount required may vary as the strength and flavor of the paste will vary greatly. So, you might have to adjust for that.
  
• If you are using active dry yeast, the bulk fermentation and proofing stage will take longer than what is suggested in this recipe. Also, instant dry yeast needs to be bloomed in warm milk with sugar before adding to the dough mixture.
  
• You can make this recipe into a loaf or ube dinner rolls.
  
• Since it is difficult to see the color of the crust while baking, go by the duration suggested in the recipe.

❓Frequently Asked Questions

🍞More bread recipes

• Semolina Bread with Sesame Seeds
  
• Matcha Bread (Eggless Matcha Swirl Bread)
  
• Dairy free bread: The best whole wheat vegan milk bread
  
• How to bake perfect bread in Instant pot
  
• Tiger rolls: A foolproof Dutch crunch bread recipe
  
• Softest Multigrain bread
  
• Ladi pav recipe: Homemade Eggless Indian Pav
  
• Turkish Bread (No-knead Recipe)

Sourdough bread recipes

A few Bread recipes with sourdough starter and other ways to use sourdough starter are linked below:

• Sourdough Rolls | No-yeast quick dinner rolls using sourdough starter
  
• The best garlic sourdough bread recipe
  
• Jalapeño Cheddar sourdough: A spicy cheese sourdough bread
  
• Sourdough chocolate bread recipe: Easy and delicious!
  
• How to make sourdough hot dog buns from scratch?
  
• How to make the basic sourdough batard?
  

I hope you will like this ube bread recipe. Share your results and opinions in the comment section below. Also, subscribe to never miss a recipe.

Till then

Bake it Delicious!

📝 Recipe card for the ube bread

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5 from 2 votes

Ube Bread

This deep purple-colored, sweet and fragrant ube bread has the most desirable taste coupled with super tender and soft crumbs. Made with purple yam paste, this Filipino ube bread recipe makes a perfect regular or special occasion sandwich bread.

Course Bread

Cuisine Asian

Keyword Filipino bread loaf, purple yam bread, Ube bread, ube bread loaf, ube bread recipe, ube milk bread

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 32 minutes minutes

Proofing Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 4 hours hours 17 minutes minutes

Servings 14

Calories 139kcal

Author Meenakshi

Ingredients

• 400 g bread flour
• 250 g whole milk
• 12 g sugar
• 7 g instant dry yeast
• 42 g unsalted butter softened 3 tbsp
• 1 ½ teaspoon ube paste
• 8 g salt

Instructions

Step 1 Make ube bread dough

• Start by combining all the dry ingredients, i.e. bread flour, instant yeast, salt, and sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer. Use a whisk to combine them well.
• In a jar combine whole milk with ube paste. Give it a whisk and mix the ube paste and milk homogeneously.
• Now place add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and place the bowl on the stand mixer.
• Start kneading at low speed (2 for KitchenAid) and keep kneading until the dough comes together and starts to leave the sides of the bowl. It should take about 8-9 minutes.
• Then bump up the speed to high (6 on KitchenAid) and knead for 2 more minutes. The dough should become smooth by now.
• The next step is to add butter in 3 stages. One tablespoon at a time and keep kneading until it is fully incorporated. Add more and keep kneading until butter is incorporated well and the dough becomes smooth and shiny.
• Finally, the dough should not be sticky and should be smooth to the touch.

Step 2 Bulk Fermentation

• Now, remove the dough from the bowl of the stand mixer and place it in a greased bowl.
• Cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel.
• Let the dough proof in a warm place in your kitchen. In winter you can also place it in an oven with lights turned on.
• Bulk ferment the dough until it becomes double in volume. It would take about 2 hours on a cold day and 60-90 minutes on a warm day. Since we are using instant yeast, it should take less time than the live yeast or dry yeast dough. So, adjust your timeline depending on the type of leavening agent used. It is always better to go by the volume of the dough risen than by any timeline as the ambient temperature highly influences the fermentation.
• You can also ferment it overnight in the fridge if you want more yeast flavor in your bread.

Step 3 Shaping the ube loaf

• When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it to deflate and remove on onto a lightly floured work surface.
• Use the tip of your hands to flatten it and form it into a rectangular sheet. The width of the dough sheet should be about one and a half inches (1 ½ ) less than the length of your loaf pan. I am using a 9x4 inch Pullman loaf pan (though I am not making a Pullman loaf). So, I kept the width of the ube dough sheet at 7 ½ inches. You can also use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangular sheet.
• Now start rolling the dough sheet into a tight log.
• Carefully lift the ube loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan.

Step 4 Proofing the loaf

• Now cover the loaf pan with an oiled cling wrap and let it proof in a warm corner of your kitchen.
• When the dough rises about an inch well above the rim of the loaf pan at the center of the pan, it is ready for baking.

Step 5 Baking ube bread

• Preheat the oven to 385 oF. Place a tray with warm water in the lower rack of the oven and place the ube bread for baking on the middle rack.
• Bake the ube bread for 15 minutes and then pull out the water tray from the lower rack.
• Bake further for 15-17 minutes or until done.
• Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the loaf pan.
• Then remove onto a cooling rack and let this purple yam bread cool for 30 minutes before slicing it.
• Use a sharp serrated bread knife to slice neatly and enjoy!

Notes

• Use bread flour for best results and do not substitute with regular flour or whole wheat flour.
• Ube paste has a stronger taste and color than most ube powders that I have tested. So, if you cannot procure fresh ube, go for ube paste.
• I have used butterfly brand ube paste, if you use some other brand, the exact amount required may vary as the strength and flavor of the paste will vary greatly. So, you might have to adjust for that. 
• If you are using active dry yeast, the bulk fermentation and proofing stage will take longer than what is suggested in this recipe.
• You can make this recipe into a loaf or dinner roll.
• Since it is difficult to see the color of the crust while baking, go by the duration suggested in the recipe.

📋 Nutrition facts