Soft, chewy, and stretchy mochi bread infused with mashed purple sweet potato is easy to make and is naturally gluten-free and eggless. The recipe works great with regular sweet potatoes too.
You will need about 1 medium-large sweet potato. Peel the skin and cut into smaller pieces. If you have a pressure cooker like Instant Pot, place the sweet potato in a steamer basket. Pour 1 cup of water into a pot and put the steamer basket on top of a trivet. Pressure cook on high for 2 minutes. Release pressure immediately and mash the sweet potatoes while they are warm. You can also use a steamer and steam on the stove on high heat for 10 minutes or until they are fork-tender
Prepare the dough:
Preheat oven to 375 F (180 C) for a conventional oven. If you use a convection oven please lower the temperature by 20 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Combine tapioca flour, glutinous rice, flour, and baking powder, mix to combine. Put the milk and butter in a saucepan. Simmer until the butter melts and then bring to a point of boiling and then turn off immediately. You need to make sure it comes to a rolling boil before turning off the heat
Immediately sift in the flour mixture and then add mashed purple sweet potatoes, sugar, and ube extract/food coloring (if using). Use a sturdy spatula to stir and combine into a rough dough and then use your hands to knead into a dough. It should be a slightly sticky dough. If it’s too dry you can add a bit more milk, teaspoon by teaspoon. Each brand of flour has different liquid absorption. So you may or may not need to add extra liquid. I didn’t have to.
Shaping:
Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces for mini size or 12-14 for a slightly larger size. If the dough is a bit sticky you can lightly spray your palms with non-stick spray or just lightly oil your palm. Try not to add anymore flour. Place on the baking sheet about at least 1-inch apart
Baking:
Place baking sheet in the middle rack and bake for about 20 minutes until the bottom is slightly golden brown for small bread and 25-30 minutes for a larger size. Some of the bread may crack a little as it rises, that’s normal. If too many cracks, next time you can mist the shaped dough with some water before putting into the oven. I didn't do this
Remove from the oven and let stand for about 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack to let them cool down completely. They are best eaten when fresh and stretchy when they are freshly baked. Once cooled down, they will start to harden but if you warm it up again, it will be soft again
Storage and reheating:
Store them in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days (they don't last that long at our house). Wrap them in plastic wrap and then freeze if you want to store them longer. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating
To reheat in oven or toaster oven, spray with some mist of water and then wrap them in aluminum foil and then bake at 350 for 5 minutes. To reheat in microwave, cover the bread with some moist clean kitchen towel or paper towel and heat for about 1 minute or less
Video
Notes
You can also use regular sweet potatoes. I used fresh purple sweet potatoes and regular sweet potatoes, but you can also use canned sweet potatoes if they are available. Drain the liquid but save about 3-4 Tbsp in case you need it when you make the dough