Topic: Doughnuts!!

[nai]

I'd love to able make doughnuts just like the ones at the Great British mobile doughnut vans...does anyone have a good recipe?  :

 ;D

[Domi]

I made a huge batch with the kids on Saturday morning - went down a storm! I got  around 16 round ones out of this mix (big ones!) and the last two got eaten today lol

Here's the recipe I used :

2 (7g) sachets dried active baking yeast
4 tablespoons warm water (45 C)
350ml (12 fl oz) lukewarm milk
100g (4 oz) caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
75g (3 oz) butter
575g (1 1/3 lb) plain flour
1L (1 3/4 pints) vegetable oil for frying
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter and 1/2 of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour a little at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1cm (1/2 in) thickness. Cut with a floured round cutter. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy pan to 175 C. Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil and drain on a wire rack.  I popped them straight out onto kitchen roll and then threw them into a tray of caster sugar with a teaspoon of cinnamon mixed in for half of them (filled them with sweet cooked apple) and the rest went into plain caster sugar and filled with Wilkin & Sons raspberry seedless jam (there's none better for doughnuts ;D)


BTW - I found I had to use a fair bit more flour than stated in the recipe too

[Stephen Lindsay]

sorry for the silly question Domi but how do you get the filling into the doughnut?

[Malc.]

Is there no end to your talents Domi, simply brilliant. I know my kids will want to try these.

[Domi]

sorry for the silly question Domi but how do you get the filling into the doughnut?

Hi Stephen

I use a piping bag with a longer nozzle and fill them when they're warm but not hot because they're soft enough to expand and take more of the filling...I've also used some of those squeezy sauce/ketchup bottles which work well- and you have to put the jam through a sieve.

I'd also say that if you're coating in caster sugar, use the bog standard white type, the golden caster sugar seems to have a bit larger grainsize that just doesn't do the "sugary lip" thing as well as the normal caster lol

Is there no end to your talents Domi, simply brilliant. I know my kids will want to try these.

Thanks Axe ;D Though most say there's no beginning to my talents Not blowing me own trumpet but I really do excel at baking

[Malc.]

Domi, baking is the final frontier for me. As a child, I used to help mum make all manor of things, but have never really stick with tradition. We have a fantastic bakers down the road, which stops the need for breads and we seldom eat cakes.

But who can resist a fresh donut! Have tried any other fillings besides apple and Raspberry, custard perhaps or lemon curd etc. ?

I have to say, you can't beat Raspberry Jam.

[Domi]

Yep, I've tried lemon curd, custard, chocolate, blueberry...basically if it's sweet and tasty, we've had it in doughnuts lol

Like I said, the best jam for doughnuts is Wilkin and Sons raspberry seedless - none other comes close ;D

And ring donuts are great with melted chocolate let down by a bit of veg oil to slacken it so it keeps a dipping consistency. I got 16+ fist-sized doughnuts out of this mix which sounds alot but TBH if I'd done a half-mix I'd have only had to do another batch to keep up with the demand ;D actually, I did more than 16 but the first few were gone as soon as they'd hit the sugar lol - well you've got to make sure they're not poisonous, haven't ya? ;D

[nai]

Wow, thanks Domi! I'm just waiting on a fryer (Breville, reduced from ?70 to ?34 in Kays Catalogue - bargain!) which will be here tomorrow, then I'll put your good knowledge to practice. I'm due a new camera through the post very soon too, so hopefully some pics to boot! 

[Domi]

You're welcome, Nai One more thing I should say is that if you're wanting the exact flavour of the "Donut Van", omit the vanilla essence

Looking forward to hearing your results

[Domi]

Made another batch today - 20 doughnuts in all