Baking Fresh Sweet Potatoes

Introduction:

Because such Fall favorites as sweet potatoes and pumpkin are essential for much of my upcoming baking, and because they are not available in canned form here in France, I have decided to learn how to bake my own in order to have them as an ingredient in my near baking endeavors.

This post is how to turn raw sweet potatoes into sweet potato purée fit for use in casseroles and other Fall recipes

Figure 1. Raw sweet potatoes

Procedure:

• Wash sweet potatoes and place in clean oven sheet
• Do not poke or pierce with a fork. When I described the idea of poking a potato before baking it to some French friends they said they had never heard of such an idea. It's not terrible if you have already poked the potatoes, it's just not French
• Place in an oven preheated to 400^oF (approx 204^oC or 200^oC if your oven is as non-precise as mine) for 45 minutes
• Verify the tenderness of the sweet potatoes by now piercing with a fork. (see Fig 2.)
• Skin sweet potatoes and mash with a potato masher (see Fig 3.)

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Results and Observations:
The sweet potatoes turned out great. Baking was easy, and the skins peeled off effortlessly once the sweet potatoes were done. The potato masher left the purée more fibrous than one may want for baked goods, but a blender would resolve this issue.

I say this experiment was a success!