In Good FlavorThis Portuguese Sweet Bread (Massa Sovada) is just like the ones from the bakeries. It is sweet, light, and fluffy. Serve as is or buttered and grilled. It’s amazing!
Hello there! I’m happy to share another Portuguese recipe with you. This time, it’s Portuguese Sweet Bread or Massa Sovada. It is slightly sweet and tender. And it has a beautiful mahogany crust.
This recipe is an adaptation of Leah’s Kitchen recipe from food.com. I made adjustments to the method and the flour quantity. The original recipe was hand kneaded, but I’m a lazy baker, so I adapted it for stand mixer kneading. It makes bread baking so much easier!
Recipe Highlights:
- Bloom yeast in warm water in the stand mixer bowl.
- Add milk, water, and eggs. Blend with the paddle attachment.
- Slowly incorporate the flour and salt mixture.
- Beat until the dough begins to clump around the paddle (about 5 minutes total).
- Switch to a hook attachment. Continue beating on medium-high for 5 to 6 minutes.
- The dough will be silky and slightly tacky.
- Place dough into a greased bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and a towel.
- Allow to proof in a warm area until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours).
- Punch down the dough.
- Divide in half.
- Place into two buttered and floured round 8-inch pans.
- Allow to rest and double in size (about 1 hour).
- Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake at 350° F for 25 to 35 minutes.
This bread is great for breakfast. All it needs is a pat of butter. My family loves to butter and brown it in a skillet. It becomes deliciously fragrant and caramelized. Trust me, it’s hard not to eat the entire loaf!
Recommended supplies:
Affiliate links. The products I recommend are either what I use, are on my wish list, or come highly rated.)
- Active dry yeast for leavening the bread. This is the brand I use.
- A sturdy stand mixer. The one I have has a 4.5-quart capacity, which is a bit small for this bread recipe. This one is more than large enough, has great ratings, and is reasonably priced.
- Pastry brush for applying egg wash.
- 8-inch cake pans or baking the sweet bread in.
- Kitchen towel for covering dough while it proofs.
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Portuguese Sweet Bread
Description
This Portuguese Sweet Bread (Massa Sovada) is just like the ones from the bakeries. It is sweet, light, and fluffy. Serve as is or buttered and grilled. It’s amazing!
Ingredients
Suggested supplies (affiliate links):
Instructions
- Add yeast and water to the mixing bowl of a stand mixer equipped with a paddle attachment. Let stand for about 5 minutes. It should look bubbly and foamy.
- Add milk, sugar, butter, and 3 eggs to the bowl. Blend until the ingredients are incorporated. Add salt and 3 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Slowly add 2 1/2 cups more flour and beat for about 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to incorporate ingredients. If the batter seems wet, slowly add enough of the remaining flour until the dough begins to firm up and clump around to the paddle. Continue beating for a couple of minutes.
- Change to the hook attachment and continue beating at medium-high. The dough should quickly start to ball up around the hook. Beat for 5 to 6 minutes total with the hook attachment. At the end of this period, the majority of the dough should be wrapped around the hook. It should be smooth and silky yet slightly tacky. It should also be slightly elastic and spring back a bit when stretched. There may be some dough smeared against the sides of the bowl.
- Using a rubber spatula or lightly greased hands, scrape the dough and form into a ball. Place into a greased bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and a towel. Place in a warm area…such as under a light…to rise until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours).
- Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Shape each into a round flat loaf and place each into buttered and floured round 8-inch pans. Cover loosely with lightly floured tea towels. Allow to rise and double in size, about 1 hour. Beat 1 egg and brush the top of each loaf. Sprinkle with sugar.
- Place in a preheated 350 degrees F oven and bake for about 25 to 35 minutes, until the crust is medium to dark amber (mine is done at the lower end of the time frame). Test for doneness using a long wooden skewer (done when a few crumbs stick to the skewer), or check for an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. Overbaking will dry out the bread. Unmold once removed from the oven. Serve with butter.
- Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Note:
- For a softer crust, rub with butter while still hot out of the oven.
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This bread looks just mouth watering!!! I am going to try this recipe for sure! Thank you:)
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Thank you! I hope it turns out well for you…I'd love to know how it goes.
This bread looks amazing!!
Thank you. The egg wash gives it such a rich color.
This looks GREAT!!! I'll definitely have to try it sometime, awesome pictures too!!! 🙂
Thanks so much Stephanie!!
This bread looks delicious! Pinned!
Thank you! 🙂
I love making bread and this one looks just amazing! Great photos too! 🙂 Found you at the Foodie Fridays link up! 🙂
Thank you! I love it when the stand mixer does most of the work for me. Thanks for stopping by!
Congratulations!
Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Enjoy your new Red Plate and your weekend!
Miz Helen
I'm honored. Thanks Miz Helen!
These are delicious and easy. This is my second time making them in 2 weeks! Thank you for sharing!
This recipe is nothing like massa. It's not even yellow! 🙁
This recipe is nothing like massa. It's not even yellow! 🙁
THIS IS NO WHERE NEAR PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD
When it's home made you don't add food coloring!
Sweetbread gets its color from the eggs in it…and no one puts food coloring in it in any of the Portuguese bakeries in Fall River or New Bedford. I do agree though that this is not as sweet as it should be…there is far to little sugar for the amount of flour. Of course, adding sugar means it will tend to over-darken at this temperature. When I make mine, I use a 300 degree oven, and would probably need about 35-40 minutes for them to bake.
D on you mind sharing your recipe? Thanks
Hi Adriana. It’s here on this link https://ingoodflavor.com/2014/06/03/portuguese-sweet-bread/. Thanks for asking!
Thank you for your comment, Frederick. You seem very knowledgable on this bread. I'm going to try your suggestions the next time I make it. It's one of our favorites!
I love sweet bread like this. I don't bake a lot of bread because I get intimidated, but this sounds nice and easy!
Aren't they so good?!! I enjoy uncomplicated bread recipes, and this one is really not difficult. I like to make them more often, but they are not so good for the waistline 🙁
I have tried making this 3 times today and everytime I get to the part where the scolded Milk, butter sugar, and eggs come together my butter starts looking like cottage cheese. It was softened and room temp.
First of all, thank you for being persistent! I would have probably given up after the second try. I’m sorry you had problems with this one step. I’ve had feedback from various social media platforms on this recipe with great success, and I have not heard of this problem.
I thought of 2 possibilities:
The first is if the liquid is too cold, the fat solids in the butter might solidify. If that’s the case, continue with the recipe, because the heat generated from the kneading process would smooth it out.
The second possibility is the liquid is too hot, which would cook the egg and essentially scramble it. In this case, you do need to start over keeping the milk at a cooler temp. You want it just barely hot, between 105-110°F would be good. Room temperature egg is best as well.
I really hope this resolves the issue.
I BAKED THIS BREAD LAST WEEK AND IT WAS GONE BEFORE I KNEW IT. THE KIDS AND THEIR FRIENDS ATE THEM BOTH. GOOD THING I HAD TAKEN A SLICE RIGHT OUT OF THE OVEN AND IT WAS HEAVENLY GOOD. I AM IN THE PROCESS OF BAKING ANOTHER BATCH NOW.
I am so thrilled you made the bread and it turned out well! It’s wonderful to hear that you made it again!! Thank you for stopping by! You made my day!!!
Is there an error in the amount of yeast called for? 2 Tbs seems like alot
It does sound like a lot, but that's the amount used in this recipe. Don't worry, the bread will turn out beautifully 🙂
This portuguese sweet bread looks delicious! I am excited to try this sweet bread in Portugal. Fortunately with online portugal visa, I got my visa in no time.
This looks amazing. Going to try. My question is can it be made into rolls or loaf pans? Thanks
Thank you Debbie! I’m so glad you want to try this bread! I have not baked it in loaf or rolls, but I don’t see why you can’t.
My suggestions: for the rolls, shape dough into rolls after the first rise. Then allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake at the same temp, but adjust the cooking time accordingly as individual rolls will bake up faster than in the round pan.
My suggestion for the loaf: use a loaf pan big enough so that the dough rises to about (but no less than) 2/3 way up the pan during the second rise. Bake at the same temp, but adjust the cooking time accordingly as well. If you are unsure if the bread is done, try taking an internal temperature. It should be about 190 degrees F.
I hope this answer helps. Good luck!! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you. I’m going to make rounds, and try loafs and rolls. Can’t wait. Thank you for sharing !!
My pleasure! I hope they turn out well for you!!
My best friend is from the Azores and I make this for her since her mother passed away. She says it tastes exactly like her mom’s. I think so too but it means more coming from her. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
You are such a sweet friend. I’m so glad this bread is meaningful for both of you. Thank you for dropping by!
I just want to make sure that you really meant 2 tablespoons of yeast, not teaspoon, right? It feels like it would ruin the dough with that amount of yeast.
Yes, 2 tablespoons is correct. It seems like too much, but it works for this recipe 🙂
I’ve been using this recipe for years. So glad I found it. It’s perfect! This also makes excellent sandwich bread. (I like to make tuna fish sandwiches with it. Yum!)
Oh my gosh!! I have to try it with tuna! Thank you for your wonderful feedback. It sounds like you enjoy the sweet bread as much as I do!
I made your recipe and did one in the cake pan then divided the second half into rolls baked then at the same time. I added cinnamon and sugar to the top of the rolls all came out great!
I would like the bread a little sweeter and not on top. How can do that with out messing up the recipe. I did add one more egg because I have chickens and the eggs are so rich and beautiful.
I’m so glad the bread turned out well for you, and the cinnamon sugar sounds delicious!! Fresh eggs! I’m so jealous!!
You should be able to add a little more sugar without a problem. I wouldn’t do more than 1/4 cup the first time around, then you can add more the next time if it doesn’t seem to have any impact.
So I am making this bread today and I am just getting it risen to put in the oven. Everything comes together really nicely and the recipe explains method really well.
I wish I would have read the comments that say it is not sweet enough, however, I do not want really sweet bread and 3/4 cup seemed reasonable so I will wait to see what I think after I bake it and try some.
I really look forward to making this bread often!
Thank you for your sweet feedback on the recipe!! I hope the sweet bread turned out well, Carol! I’d love to know what you thought of the sweetness level!
This bread turned out spectacular! I just loved it. It is so hot outdoors here right now and husband and step son were working on our car. I took these loaves out of the oven and waited just a few minutes before slicing into one and takinga beautiful plate of fresh buttered bread and orange juice out for refreshments from the heat. They finished off the plate of bread like it was the best thing they ever tasted.
The texture of this bread is very similar to special Ukrainian bread that my Mom used to make for Easter. It was slightly sweet but the think I used to look forward to as a child.
I am thrilled to add this to my regular bakes. My husband says he found the bread to be a bit sweet but I think he was just expecting plain bread. Stepson loved every bite.I think I was a bit heavy with the sugar on top of loaf so maybe next time I will not put so much. Thanks so much for a wonderful recipe!
I’m so glad it was a hit with your family!! The sweet bread is meant to be a little sweet, but you can easily customize the sweetness level to suit your family’s taste. And I’m thrilled you are going to add the recipe to your baking rotation! Thank you for letting me know how your bread turned out, Carol. Happy baking!!
This recipe makes 2 loaves.
Thank you for your recipe. I am having trouble getting my bread to come out yellow do you have any tips?
Thank you for trying the recipe! The interior color of the bread may vary due to the color of the egg yolks. If the egg is more of a vibrant yellow-orange (like farm fresh eggs), then the bread will come out a little more yellow. Even if the color is pale, it should still taste great!
I did not like this recipe at all. Nothing like the bread I was brought up eating. Will not make again.
I’m sorry this sweet bread didn’t meet your expectations. There are people who tried it and loved it. I hope you will find a recipe that suits you!
Made this today and came out great! Reminds me of my vavao’s sweetbread. I did add lemon extract since that is what she did.
Oh, I’m so glad!!! If vavao used lemon extract, I wouldn’t change it either!