Doughnuts are one of the desserts I like the most because they remind me of my youth: the afternoons spent at my parents’ house with high school classmates.
I meticulously organized the infamous “Pig Party”. The only drawback was that I almost always missed the saltier jokes and spicy gossip, because I was busy frying.
I freely took this recipe from Giuseppe Amato’s book “Contemporary restaurant pastry”.
Doughnuts
- Preparation time: 5 hours
- Ingredients for 20 doughnuts
- Difficulty: Average difficulty recipe
- Ingredients
- 1 lb. 2 oz (500 grams) of strong white bread flour (12.5% protein)
- 3 oz (70 grams) of sugar
- ¾ oz (20 grams) of fresh yeast
- 4 oz (100 grams) of whole eggs (circa 2 eggs)
- ½ cup 4 tablespoons (180 grams) of milk at room temperature
- 3 oz (70 grams) of butter
- 1 teaspoon (8 grams) of salt
- Flavors (grated peel of an orange or lemon or the seeds of ½ vanilla bean)
- Peanut oil for frying to taste
- Granulated sugar to taste
- Custard, Nutella, or jam to taste
- Instructions
- Put the flour, eggs, yeast, and half of the milk in the bowl of a mixer with a beater paddle. Mix on a medium speed for 8 minutes until the dough starts forming a ball. Add the remaining milk a little at a time and the sugar. Continue to knead until the dough is not at all sticky. Add the salt and the flavor (either vanilla beans or the grated zest of a citrus fruit).
- Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the dough. Once it is all incorporated, mix on high speed for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and very elastic.
- Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl, and cover with cling film to rise for at least an hour. Then place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
- Take the dough from the fridge and let it return to room temperature.
- Make tight buns of 2 oz (50 grams) each. Place them on a square on individual pre-cut pieces of parchment paper, leaving plenty of room between them as you don’t want them to stick together while they prove. Roll them with the palms of your hands to roughly ¼ inch thick. Cover them with clingfilm and let them rise until doubled in volume (it will take about two hours at a temperature of 78°F or about an hour at 82°F).
- In a saucepan with high sides, bring the oil to 325°F. Fry the donut with parchment paper so as not to damage it. The paper in contact with the oil will come off. Remove the paper with kitchen tongs and fry the donut first on one side for a few minutes until golden, then on the other side.
- Drain it on a paper towel and then roll it in a bowl that contains caster sugar.
Fry all the donuts 2-3 per batch, depending on the size of your pan. - Make a hole with a small knife in the crease of each donut. Fill the piping bag with your favorite filling and pipe into the donut. Serve immediately.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- The addition of liquids depends on the flour. If the dough is still too strong, you can add another 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk.
- The rising time is indicative because it depends on the external heat and type of flour used.
- Frying must be done at a very low temperature, otherwise the inside of the donut will not cook. You will obtain a donut with a nice color outside and a raw, inedible heart. This is a mistake that I made once and it cannot be remedied in any way. Therefore, the thermometer is mandatory to check the oil temperature.
