
Simple Ube Ensaymada Recipe!
I keep finding more uses for the bread dough in my Fluffy White Sandwich Bread recipe. And my latest concoction is a Filipino Ube Ensaymada recipe!
The Filipino ensaymada bread is a great treat for every household. You’ll find it is a staple in every Filipino bakery you walk into. This ensaymada recipe includes ube, but if you don’t have leftovers from your ube bread, or just don’t want to use it, you can easily leave it out if you want plain ensaymada. That makes it easier to top with cheese, or peanut butter like Lolo! But really, who doesn’t love some purple ube ensaymada? And while they may look like cinnamon rolls, they are quite different. Perhaps more akin to a sweet, savory dinner roll.
Now considering how easy to make the bread dough is from the previous recipe, this simple ube ensaymada recipe is going to make your life so much simpler and infinitely more delicious.

Ube Ensaymada
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 1 Cup warm water
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 2.25 tsp yeast
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 tsp salt
- Butter for brushing
- Sugar for sprinkling
- optional Finely shredded cheese for sprinkling
Instructions
- Getting your bread machine ready to go (or your mixer, or chosen method)
- Place warm water, sugar, yeast into bread machine
- Quick stir to dissolve
Tangzhong
- While your yeast is proving, start the Tangzhong by adding 3tbsp flour and 2 tbsp water into a pot
- Warm over low heat while mixing to get a nice gooey roux. Should only take a minute or two.
Dough
- Add everything (but the Ube) into your bread machine
- Set to "dough" and walk away
- Once dough cycle is complete place dough onto a floured surface and divide into 8-12 pieces
- Roll pieces into about 12 inch long snakes
- Flatten snakes
- Add Ube jam to flat snakes and roll over to seal
- Once sealed, roll again to make sure the snakes are uniformly sealed
- Roll your snakes into a spiral, tucking the last bit underneath
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes
- Add a container of water to the warm oven
- Bake Ube Ensaymada for 20 minutes
- Once baked, brush with butter, sprinkle with sugar, and if you want to go all in, sprinkle with cheese