Soft, fluffy, and slightly sweet—these Potato Custard Bread Buns are a delightful homemade treat with a twist! Unlike traditional bread rolls, these buns incorporate boiled potatoes into the dough, creating an irresistibly soft texture. To take them up a notch, a custard paste is piped on top in a criss-cross pattern (making them look like pineapple!), giving them a beautifully golden and decorative finish.

With all the sweet treats coming your way int this Holiday season, I thought it would be nice to have something filling that is just more than a dozen delicious cookies. Don’t get me wrong, I love sweet treats, but I am always a fan of balancing things out. You know, sweet, salty, savoury .. they’re my things. Besides, we could all use a break from our cookies, right?

Soft and fluffy Potato Bread Buns perfect for breakfast, for lunch and for anything that requires a pairing of bread. From salad, pasta or even stew, this Potato Bread Buns will not disappoint. The extra soft texture was achieved by adding mashed potato with the bread dough making it not only fluffy, but also soft and moist. Yes, a moist beautiful bread buns.

If you are a regular in my blog, by now you know how much I love bread. Bread is one thing that I make almost every week, more than anything else. More than cake, cookies, pie, tart, bars and any other baked products. Bread is almost like staple in my house as I use them for breakfasts almost everyday. A piece (or more) of roll for breakfast or bread to go for lunch or for dinner, I’m good! Unlike sweet baked goods like cookies and cakes, bread is something I can eat everyday as it is part of my meal. Making bread every week is part of my meal plan, not a treat like cakes and cookies.

I’ve made a lot of bread, some I have already shared and some still in the editing process, and some still in line for editing. I’ve shared Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll before, and although I had made Potato Bread before, I never had a chance to share it. So this week, I am sharing soft and fluffy Potato Buns, but not just any regular Potato Buns, this one has custard on top. Let’s get to it!

Why Use Potatoes in Bread Dough? The Secret to Softness

If you’ve never baked bread with potatoes before, you’re in for a treat! Adding boiled and mashed potatoes to the dough enhances moisture, softness, and even gives the bread a subtle sweetness. The starch from the potatoes helps create a pillowy texture, making these buns incredibly tender and fresh for longer. I used fresh potatoes that I cooked and mashed but if you have leftover plain mashed potato, that would work too.

How the Custard Topping Transforms These Buns

What truly sets these bread buns apart is the custard paste piped on top in a criss-cross pattern. Doesn’t it look beautiful? You can make it without it, but if you want something that is delicious and physically impressive, you have to put a bit extra effort. Just tad bit to elevate these buns. This light, creamy mixture creates a subtle sweetness and a beautifully golden, textured finish. The contrast between the soft potato-infused bun and the delicate custard makes for an unforgettable bite! Love it 🙂

A Starchy Potato for Fluffy Bread Texture

Russet and Yukon Gold are good options for use in bread making. These types are starchy variety that add moisture, softness, and a fluffy crumb to the buns.

Bake It or Boil It

I prefer baking the potatoes so it doesn’t get too wet. Simply wash the potato and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake with skin on for about 1 hour or less depending on the size you are using. If you are going to the boiling route, simply put the washed potato in a pan with water covering the entire potato. Bring to a boil until fork tender. Cool slightly before mashing. Slightly cooled potato are easier to mash compared to the cold potato.

Ingredients Breakdown: What You Need for Perfect Buns

This recipe uses simple ingredients to create complex flavors:

• Boiled or Baked Potatoes for softness – Use Russet or Yukon Gold.
• Flour, yeast, and milk for the perfect bread dough
• Butter and eggs for richness
• Vanilla custard paste to pipe on top The balance of these ingredients results in a bakery-style bread bun you’ll want to make again and again.

Shaping & Baking: How to Get the Perfect Texture

To ensure your potato custard buns turn out just right, follow these tips:

• Let the dough rise properly—potato-enriched dough needs enough time to develop structure.
• Knead well but don’t overwork—it should be smooth and elastic, but too much kneading can make the buns dense.
• Pipe the custard generously—the more even your criss-cross pattern, the better they’ll bake and brown.

Serving Suggestions: Best Ways to Enjoy Them

Once baked, these buns are delicious on their own, but here are some ways to enjoy them even more:

• Warm with butter for a simple, comforting snack.
• Drizzled with honey or jam for extra sweetness.
• Paired with coffee or tea for the perfect afternoon break.
• Used as a sweet sandwich with whipped cream or fruit.

In the end, it is your buns 🙂 Enjoy it however you want to

Storing & Freezing: How to Keep Them Fresh

These buns stay soft for up to three days at room temperature, but if you want to save some for later:

• Store in an airtight container to prevent drying out.
• Freeze them individually wrapped for long-term freshness—just reheat and enjoy!

About This Recipe

• If you’ve made homemade yeast bread before, then you know that it is a labour of love in every step. Yeast bread making takes awhile, although there are yeast bread that you can make in 1 – 1 1/2 hrs end to end. There’s also the no knead artisan style bread that takes forever, 18 -24 hrs of resting, so you can leave it and forget it until the following day and go about your regular day.
• There’s the average yeast bread that takes about 3 hrs to make, this is where I categorized this rolls. There is one extra step for this recipe but it is nice to make this extra step to add a nice appeal and look to the bread. Will it affect the taste if you do not decorate the top with custard? Yes it will. It is not just for aesthetics, the custard made this Potato Buns extra special more than making it look pretty. It wont take more than 10 minutes to add it so don’t skip it.
• The ingredients are mostly basic for making a bread buns, except for the mashed or puréed potato and the custard toppings. The potato will add moisture and will make the bread soft.
• This bread buns or rolls are soft and fluffy. There is no unusual extra taste, you wouldn’t even know there’s potato in this bread if I did not call this Potato Bread. You can even swap regular Potato and use Sweet Potato with minor adjustment. Sweet Potato tends to have more water so you might need to add small amount of flour so the dough is not too sticky.
• This bread could last for a week in room temperature, so making it days ahead when you need it is ok. I would suggest a day before or 3 days maximum for better texture.

Why You’ll Love These Buns

Potato Custard Bread Buns aren’t just tasty—they’re a fun baking project that combines familiar ingredients in a new way. The softness from the potatoes and the rich custard topping make them unique, while the easy-to-follow method ensures success. This bread spells passion for baking in every step of the way. Enjoy and share it.

How to Make Potato Custard Bread Buns

Let me give you a quick summary on how you are going to tackle this. Don’t worry, it’s not difficult at all. You can even make  this without using a bread machine or stand mixer.

• First thing first, activate the yeast for about 15 minutes to get the yeast activated. I added it in warm milk (110F) and added sugar in it. Temperature is very important in activating the yeast, make it too hot or cold and the yeast will not activate properly. If you do not have a kitchen thermometer, microwave the tap water for about 15 – 20 seconds, that should do the trick. If you are using a water from refrigerator make it about 25 seconds and then just touch it to make sure its not too hot or cold.
• Second, add the wet ingredients one at a time, including the beaten egg.
• Third, add the dry ingredients in 2 batches, you can divide it in half it doesn’t have to be exact. You need to add it in 2 batches so that it is easier to mix. Knead the dough just until it becomes elastic. The dough will be slightly sticky, but you should have a clean bowl after kneading and mixing it. Clean bowl means that you are on the track for the consistency of the dough. If your dough gets too sticky, add 1 tbsp of flour at a time until you get a clean bowl and the dough forms. But don’t over do it as adding too much flour can make the bread heavy and dense. Final dough should be slightly sticky but manageable and shapeable. The dough is done, Congratulations!
• First Rest Period: Transfer in a greased bowl and cover and let it sit for 60 minutes in warm place.
• Shape: Take the dough out from the bowl and divide it into 9 portions. Use a kitchen weighing scale if you have one. Shape each portion into a ball.
• Second Rest Period: Cover and let rest for another 1 hour in a warm place.
• Make the Custard: Make the Custard by mixing all the ingredients and cooking for 3 – 5 minutes. Let cool and transfer in piping bag or ziplock sandwich bag.
• Brush with Eggwash: Brush the top with egg wash (1 beaten 1 + teaspoon water). Decorate the top with the custard, just a simple 2 horizontal and vertical line on top.
• Bake: Bake in preheated 356F oven about 17 – 20 minutes or until until top is golden brown,

ENJOY and don’t forget to share and make your friends beg for more 🙂

Tips for a Successful Soft Homemade Bread

• Check Yeast Expiry a Date – you might be wondering how come the bread did not rise when you followed exactly the recipe. Well, first thing first, make sure the yeast is not yet expired. 
• Liquid Temperature – Yeast grows in temperature between 105 – 110F, so it is important to have the water that you are using to “proof” it in this range. If you go lower or higher, the yeast might not proof properly. That means the bread will not rise as much, resulting to a flat and tough bread. If you do not have kitchen thermometer, microwave the water (from the faucet) about 15 – 20 seconds. Feel it with your fingers, it sound be lukewarm not hot. 
• Amount of Yeast – Just because you want a tall fully bread doesn’t mean you have to put as much yeast in the mixture. Sometimes if you add too much, it will have a tendency to collapse. Just imagine putting more air than what is needed in a balloon, the balloon will explode. The same case with bread. 
• Right Type of Yeast – The amount of yeast depends on what type of yeast you are using, Make sure to measure accordingly if you are swapping from one type of yeast to another.
• Flour Measurement is not exact all the time, but with only minimal difference. Sometimes it could be plus 2 – 4 tbsp more, this is why I always set aside about 1/4 cup in case I need to add more. If you measure the liquid properly, and still the dough turn out dry, then it could be that the flour moisture is either dryer than usual. Dry flour requires more liquid, and lighter flour requires less liquid. This could depend on the brand of the flour and the age of the flour, and of course flour could vary from country to country. The nearer the flour gets to expiry date, the more that it gets dryer. If you are like me who doesn’t monitor the expiry date, then you just have to feel the dough if it needs additional flour. You want it to be still soft and moist but not too sticky. Moist but enough to form the dough into a ball. My test is a bowl with clean side, while the dough still slightly stick at the bottom. This gives a soft dough.
• Rest Period – Yeast bread needs time to rise. There are bread that uses less yeast but requires more rest time, the likes of No Knead Bread or Artisan Bread which usually require 8- 16 hours rest period to get the volume and to develop the flavor. There are 1 hour bread like my Rosemary Dinner Rolls which used this same bread dough. Resting the dough is imperative to allow the gluten to relax and to allow the dough to rise. A well rested dough will rise better, will created pockets or air,  and will make a light and soft bread. Remember, 2 rest period. First at least 1 hour and another 1 hour for the second rest period. It’s worth the wait, promise.

Why is My Dough Too Wet or Too Dry?

Don’t get frustrated if your dough did not turn out immediately as what you see in the photo or video. Most likely It is not because you did not follow the recipe. When it comes to bread making, the amount of flour and liquid is not always 100% precise. This is way often times you will encounter recipes that says, if your dough is dry, add a bit more liquid. If your dough is too wet, add a little bit more flour. This instructions are not meant to confuse you, they are meant to guide you on how to adjust as you work through your dough. The reason for this is that although the measurement of water and flour are specified in the recipe, it still could slightly vary depending on many factors.

• One key thing that could affect the texture is how you measure the ingredients. Measuring by weight is the best way to do it, butt the spoon and level technique comes as close to measuring by weight although not 100% exact. Scooping the flour directly often ended up with a bit more than required.
• Also, all-purpose flour could very from country to country, or even from brand to brand. Don’t be surprise if you find that some brand tends to require a bit more liquid as the others.
• On top of this, the amount of liquid is also affected by the state of your flour. How old is the flour that you are using? Older flour nearing expiry tends to be drier and this requires more liquid.

These are just few reasons why the amount of liquid could vary. Bread making requires patience, and practice. Once you learn how to feel the right texture of the dough, everything will be quick and easy. You can instantly tell if you need to add more water or flour to get the dough in right state.  

A Must-Try Recipe for Homemade Bread Lovers

If you’ve never baked with potatoes or experimented with custard toppings, now is the time to try! These Potato Custard Bread Buns are a perfect blend of soft, fluffy bread and rich, creamy flavor. Grab some potatoes, flour, and butter, and get ready to make a batch of comforting, golden-brown goodness.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams/1 3/4 cups Bread Flour
• 50g/ 1/4 cup Sugar
• 8 grams/1 teaspoon table Salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 50g/ 1/4 cup Mashed Potato
• 55g/ 1 Egg
• 80ml/ 1/3 cup fresh Milk
• 30g/ 1/8 cup unsalted Butter

Custard Flour Paste:

• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 1/2 tablespoon caster or granulated Sugar
• 70ml fresh Milk
• 1 tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract

For the Eggwash:

• 1 Egg – beaten
• 1 teaspoon Water or Milk

Instructions:

• Boil the Potato: Bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the potato until soft and can be easily mash-up. Remove from the pan and let cool until manageable to handle. Once cooled, remove the skin and mash until smooth and puree. You can use a fork or potato masher. Potato masher is the best option for smoother consistency.
  • Alternatively: Wash the potato and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350F for about 1 hour or until knife inserted in the m middle pass through without much effort. Remove the foil and let cool until manageable to handle. Peel the skin and mash.
• Activate Yeast: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer whisk together yeast with 80 ml milk and 1/2 tsp of the granulated sugar. Rest 10 minutes until mixture is foamy.
• Mix Wet and Dry Ingredients: Set mixer with paddle attachment. Add bread flour onto the bowl with the activated yeast. Add 1/4 cup sugar, salt and the mashed and cooled potato. Mix on medium low-speed (KitchenAid Setting 2) until combined, then switch to a hook attachment. Allow mixture to knead on medium-low speed until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add 1 tbsp of flour at a time (but not more than 1/4 cup) until the dough starts to form. The dough should be slightly sticky, smooth and elastic. If too much flour is added the bread will be dense and heavy. A good measure of correct texture is a clean mixing bowl, while the dough still slightly sticking at the bottom.
• Add the soften butter and knead for another 15 minutes. Expect a slightly sticky dough.

• First Rest Period, 60 Minutes: Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. Transfer into a greased bowl (use oil spray or drizzle bowl with oil then wipe with your fingers to coat the inside of the bowl). Roll the dough inside the bowl to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or warm towel and allow to rest for 6 minutes in a warm place.
  • To help the dough rise better, store it inside the oven which had been pre-heated to 110F. Once it reached the 110F, turn OFF the oven. DO NOT forget to turn it OFF, you only want the oven to warm up for the dough to rise, you do not want to dough to be baked. Some oven has a proofing setting, mine doesn’t, so this is my trick.

• Shape: Remove from the bowl and lightly push the dough down with the heel of the palm of your hands to knockout the air. At this stage, the dough should at least double in size. Divide the dough into 9 equal portions. Arrange in a parchment lined baking sheet spacing each piece at least 2-inches apart. Cover and let rest in a warm place. You can bake this is a baking sheet or a baking pan. You can bake it a a cookie sheet or in a square pan.
• Second Rest Period, 60 Minutes: Cover and let rest for another 60 minutes in a warm place. Use the same trick mentioned above.
• Preheat oven to 350F during last 10 minutes of dough rising. If using the oven to rest the bread, make sure to remove the bread from the oven before pre-heating it to 350F.

• Flour Mixture: In a bowl, transfer 1 egg yolk. Add 70 ml fresh milk and stir. Sift 1 tablespoon all purpose flour and mix until combined. Pass through a sieve to remove lumps and transfer in a pan. Simmer in low heat while continuously stirring. Add pure vanilla extract and continue stirring until the consistency is thick. Transfer in a piping bag or ziplock sandwich bag. Set aside.
• Brush top with Egg wash

• Using the cooked flour mixture, decorate the top of the buns.
• Bake: Bake in preheated 356F oven until top is golden brown, about 17 – 20 minutes. Serve warm, reheat before serving as necessary. pay attention to baking time as the top could burn easily. I f this happens, simply covet the top with aluminum foil if it starts to brown fast.

Make the Bread Without Stand Mixer

This bread can be made without stand mixer although it require a little bit more effort but it is doable. Instead of a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl to mix the dough. Here’s how you do it

1. Activate the yeast.
2. Simply mix the wet and dry ingredients in a large bowl until it forms into a ball.
3. Transfer in a floured surface and continue kneading until the dough becomes smooth, soft and elastic. Take your time until you reach the desired dough texture.
4. Follow the same steps after this

Makes 9 medium size buns

Looking for more homemade bread recipes? I got you covered! I have here 10 of my favorite homemade bread recipes, all with Video or MORE bread recipes HERE

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