Donuts

Dough Ingredients (12 units):

  • 660g strong flour
  • 75g sugar
  • 5g salt
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 30g liquid egg
  • 20g dry yeast
  • 150g warm water
  • 150g milk

Filling/Coating

  • egg wash
  • 100ml boling water + 100g sugar + cinnamon stick + star anise
  • jam
  • double cream: whipped + vanilla essence or 1tsp of coffee.

Process

  • Warm water and milk at body temperature. Then add yeast and mix.
  • In a bowl, mix flour, salt and sugar. Then rubber the butter until you have a breadcrumb look mix.
  • Add egg to the milk and mix.
  • Add liquid mix to the flour.
  • Mix all together until forming a ball.
  • Knead on the table until you have a smooth ball. When you poke it, it should spring back in slow motion. For 7-10 minutes aprox.
  • Put the dough in the bowl, with a bit of oil, cover with cling film and let it prove until double in size. This is the most difficult thing to do at home. Try to put in a switch-on oven with a bit of boiling water in a small pan to simulate a proving machine (40C?). In a proving machine takes 1h.
  • In a lightly flour surface, tip your dough and roll it as a long ping. Use a scale and cut 12 pieces. It should be 92g each aprox.
  • With each piece, make a ball, with one plant of your hand, push to the table and start rolling releasing pressure until a ball forms. Put each ball in a tray with baking paper. Cover the pieces while you make the balls.
  • Prove the balls again until double in size. Try the oven again with a bit of boiling water. 1h aprox. You can as well, try donuts with a whole. Just with a dusted finger, make a whole in the middle and spin the dough. Be sure the whole is quite big in diameter and when it proves may close.
  • Second most difficult part. Deep frying. Keeping the temperature is critical so your will need a temperature prove and patience. Be sure the oil is at 170C. Add two balls (max) in you have a deep fryer. If you use a sauce pan, fry one ball at each time. Fry aprox for 1 minute each side. Ideally you should have a white lien in the middle. If the oil is below 170C the donuts will get soggy, too hot, they will burn. So again, be patience.
  • As well, you can bake in the oven, aprox 10 minutes at 180C. Just give it an egg wash and bake until golden. Use a toothpick to check they are baked inside. Then give it a sugar-water coating immediately after taking out of the oven.
  • For the deep-fry donuts, let them cool down. Then coat them with a mix of sugar/cinnamon.
  • Now you can add the fillings. With a knife, make a hole in the white line and pipe your filling. For the oven ones, cut in the middle around 3/4 and pipe your fillings.

This is my outcome:

I filling some with coffee cream, jam and plain cream.

They were really nice. I didnt expect this result. Again, critical is the proving and deep frying at the correct temperature.