In this new era of homeschooling, I’ve found enjoyable ways to incorporate life learning into my girl’s classwork. So when Friday’s assignment came through for my youngest daughter to pick out a baking recipe and complete it, I was excited, and so was she! I threw her one of my favorite cookbooks and told her to find something she wanted to bake. Like a chip off the old block, she pulled up Sweet Potato Bread, and we hit the kitchen.
Having a copy of Mama Dip’s Kitchen is like having a collection of all your grandmother’s best recipes, even her secret ones. Mildred Council spent her life taking care of her family and mastering her skills in the kitchen to make food everyone would love.
Years ago, one of my favorite hobbies was baking. Boy was I into it. I made cakes, cookies, tortillas, pizza, muffins, and a worldly collection of bread. That was until I got sick and developed sensitivities to just about anything you would need to make a decent baked good. So I put up my rolling pin and sourdough starter and focused on other outlets in the kitchen, but the fire never went out completely.
Fast forward some years later. We have little girls running through the house now and they need to start learning their way around the kitchen. Making stocks and mirepoix aren’t the best ways to get young kids excited about working in the kitchen so baking can be a successful first date. Now I’m back in it, albeit with a limited ingredient list, but that’s what makes it more exciting and rewarding when something comes out a winner.
We adapted Mildred’s recipe to fit our needs, and we nailed it. She calls for self-rising flour, which we replaced with a mixture of cassava flour, tapioca starch, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Cassava flour can be found at Whole Foods or through Amazon here. It’s time for some grain-free baking my friends. Let’s begin
Sweet Potato Bread (grain-free)
- 2 cups cassava flour
- 2 Tbsp tapioca starch or arrowroot powder
- 3/4 salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potatoes
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (usually 1 medium orange)
- 1/2 cup milk (we used drinking coconut milk)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup dates, chopped
- 8×10 baking dish or something similar
- Butter, coconut oil, or avocado oil for greasing the baking dish
- Whisk
Method
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Chop the sweet potatoes into 1″ cubes, put them in a pot and fill the pot with just enough water to cover them. Add 2 tsp of salt to the water and boil until fork tender
- Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher or fork until creamy (small lumps are ok)
- Heat your oven to 375 degrees
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg then add the melted butter, milk and orange juice
- Chop the dates into small pieces about the size of small raisins
- Grease your baking dish
- Now with all your ingredients ready first pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and beat with a whisk for one minute
- Fold in the dates until evenly distributed
- Spread the batter into your baking dish
- Bake for 30 minutes without disturbing
- Cool on a rack for 20 minutes