Ube Bread Rolls Overnight Recipe

Fluffy milk bread swirled with homemade sweet ube halaya, perfect as a breakfast and brunch recipe! You may already know about my slight obsession with ube halaya. I could slather that delicious goodness on anything and call it a meal. My second favorite way to eat ube halaya is actually these pretty swirled ube bread rolls. Besides incorporating it in the most delicious ways imaginable, like with this ube ice cream or ube milk tea (ube bubble tea). What’s my most favorite way you ask? Out of the bottle, straight into my mouth. These ube bread rolls are made with a pillowy soft Japanese milk bread. I love pairing these fluffy bread rolls with different pastes and fillings like this homemade pistachio paste, praline paste, mocha hazelnut spread (vegan Nutella) etc. So the ube filling was a natural choice too. The filling here is a homemade ube halaya (ube jam). You can also make this with store-bought ube halaya, but I’ll always prefer my homemade version! I’m also going to share how you can turn these into overnight ube bread rolls, so that you have minimum prep work in the morning before baking them for breakfast.

Tips for making the Japanese milk bread

I use my own Japanese milk bread recipe to make these ube rolls. They make the most amazing bread rolls (as you can tell from all my reader reviews), so it made sense to make swirled ube bread rolls with that dough. The dough is soft to work with, so I prefer to chill it overnight so that it’s easier to shape and cut. To make the bread, follow my Japanese milk bread recipe here. However, once you’ve made the dough, skip the first proof at room temperature, and allow the dough to proof in the fridge overnight instead. You may find that the dough still doubles in size in the fridge, but even if it doesn’t, don’t worry. I’m skipping the room temp proof because these bread rolls will be proofed TWICE in the fridge, and one last time before being baked. So you don’t need to add another room temperature proofing. Use milk (either cold or warm) to make the tangzhong, and warm milk to make the dough. This will add a very milky taste to the final bread. Use a stand mixer to make the dough. It’s obviously easier than kneading by hand. You can also use instant yeast or active dry yeast. But make sure to activate the yeast first if you’re using active dry yeast. This won’t be necessary for instant yeast.

Tips for making ube halaya

Here’s my recipe for ube halaya (ube jam). You can also buy ube halaya from Filipino grocery stores or online. You can also use frozen ube purple yam to make ube jam, OR if you’re lucky enough to find it fresh, that would be fantastic too. If you can’t find ube, you can use purple sweet potato or even regular sweet potato to make sweet potato jam instead as well. The color will be different, but it’ll still taste delicious! To get a more vibrant purple color, you can add some dark purple coloring, or preferably ube flavoring (ube extract), which has coloring as well. This isn’t necessary, but lends a more vibrant purple color to the ube halaya.

How to make ube bread rolls

Make the ube halaya in advance. It can be kept in the fridge for about 5 days and in the freezer for about 2 – 3 months.

Day one

Make the tangzhong and let it cool. Make the Japanese milk bread dough and let it proof in the fridge overnight.

Day two

Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. On a floured surface, gently deflate the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a square that is about 15 – 16 inches. Slightly warm the ube halaya / ube jam to make it soft enough to easily spread on the dough. Evenly spread it on the whole surface of the dough, except for a 3/4 – 1 inch border along one edge. Roll up the dough fairly tightly towards the end with the border. Pinch the seam to seal. Then roll the tube a little again on your work surface to make sure the thickness is even. Slice off the two ends (optional) using a sharp knife, or an unflavored dental floss string. Then using the knife or dental floss, cut the roll into 9 equal sized pieces. Place the 9 ube bread rolls in a 9 x 9 inch pan that is lined with parchment paper. If you want to bake them immediately, let the rolls proof until the dough has doubled in size. Then bake in a preheated oven.

Day 3 – To make overnight ube bread rolls

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge overnight. The following morning (day 3), remove the pan from the fridge and let it sit on the counter until the rolls have doubled in size. This may have already happened while the rolls were in the fridge, in which case you can bake right away. When the rolls have doubled in size, brush them with an egg wash (optional), or melted butter (optional) and bake in the preheated oven until the buns are golden brown on top!

Other options

While the ube bread buns are baking, you can make this glorious sweet and salty coconut glaze. It’s made with coconut milk, salt, and confectioner’s sugar. I absolutely love that combination of sweet and salty coconut flavor, and ube! Having said that, these ube bread rolls are so damn good, you don’t even need the glaze. If you don’t want the extra sweetness of the glaze, but would still like to add coconut flavor, you can add coconut whipped cream on top instead. Can’t decide between cinnamon rolls and ube rolls? No problem. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the ube halaya before rolling up the bread rolls. However, I personally prefer these rolls without the cinnamon, so that the ube flavor has a chance to stand out and shine. These swirled overnight ube bread rolls are an absolute treat! The bread is incredibly light and fluffy, and the ube halaya has a perfectly sweet and floral flavor. And they look gorgeous too with that bright purple swirl!