Easy Filipino ube pandesal bread. These moist and fluffy loaves have a striking purple color and delicious cheese filling. Discover how to make ube bread from scratch with our easy baking recipe.
This take on Filipino ube pandesal bread matches the famous purple yam color with a melted cheese filling for a truly unique homemade baking experience.
There are a number of versions of ube bread out there, with some choosing classic milk bread or loaves with purple filling. Our recipe however lets the striking purple color do all the talking with these pandesal rolls.
Traditional Filipino pandesal is a blend of milk, sugar, yeast, and flour, and is similar in appearance to classic European baked rolls, and even tastes like a slightly sweeter French baguette.
Ube halaya is originally a Filipino dessert made from boiled and reduced purple yam mixed with condensed milk, however it’s often used as a base to infuse other classic foods, like ice cream, cakes, and even bread.
Blending these two classic foods might sound complicated but the good news is that it’s much easier than it sounds, and is even a great baking recipe for beginners. From buying the best ingredients to dough kneading, find out everything you need to know with our ube pandesal bread recipe.
Quick Tips
- Try mixing up the filling with ube halaya jam, cream cheese, or even melted chocolate
- Store leftover rolls in paper wrapping, in a bread box or bread bin. Reheat when ready to eat by heating in the oven for 10 minutes at 350°F (180°C).
- Ube powder or halaya is very sticky, so be sure to grease your hands with cooking spray to help you handle the dough better.
- Avoid adding too much dough. The sticky quality of the ube will soak up excess flour and turn the dough dry and tough.
Ube Cheese Pandesal
Equipment
- stand mixer
- 2-3 baking sheets
- parchment paper
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 cup water
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tbsp ube flavoring
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ½ lb cheddar cheese cubed and at room temperature
- 1 cup fine plain bread crumbs
Instructions
- In a medium-size mixing bowl, add the whole milk, water, egg, and ube flavoring. Whisk until combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, instant yeast, sugar, and kosher salt. Combine well.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and slowly pour in the ube mixture
- Using a stand mixer, add butter and slowly combine the ingredients until a dough starts to form
- Dust cooking surface with flour. Place ube dough on the surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).
- Apply cooking spray to a new large mixing bowl. Place ube dough in the bowl and cover. Leave to proof and double in size, about one hour.
- Portion dough into 12 pieces, each sized like a small bun. Roll each piece into a smooth ball then flatten and place a cheese cube in the center. Bunch edges around cheese and pinch to seal at the top. Roll again and coat in bread crumbs. Repeat for all remaining buns.
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper and cooking spray. Arrange dough balls on sheets and cover with plastic wrap. Proof again until doubled in size, about one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)
- Uncover baking sheets and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until slightly browned on top. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes. Enjoy immediately.
