Doughnuts are always appreciated, in my opinion. And whilst standing over a pot of hot oil doesn't scream 'summer', for some reason, doughnuts do, at least to me. A filled doughnut is superior to a ring doughnut, and I'm happy to mark that as fact.
These doughnuts use brioche dough, and I'll walk you through three different fillings: strawberry jam, custard, and chocolate. Making doughnuts from scratch is time consuming, but the result is so, so worth it. Whilst this recipe may seem intense, you of course do not need to go for all three fillings, and you can also opt to use store bought fillings! I've just gone the extra mile for the sake of the blog.
The below recipe will make around 22 doughnuts.
Ingredients
Brioche Dough
2 eggs
50gr granulated sugar
1 tbspn salt
240ml milk
10gr instant yeast
170gr butter, melted
560gr flour
Strawberry Jam
300gr fresh strawberries
2 cups water
300gr sugar
1/2 tspn vanilla paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
6gr gelatin powder + 3 tbsp warm water
Chocolate Filling
100gr double cream
200gr dark chocolate
Custard Filling
150gr double cream
150gr store bought custard
For the coating
350gr caster sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
For frying
1l vegetable oil
Method
1. Making the brioche dough. Warm the milk until just lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast on top and set aside for around 5-10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter, eggs, sugar, and whisk together until just combined. Add the milk and yeast mixture, and whisk once again.
2. Add half the flour and combine. At this point, ideally move on to the stand mixer/hand held mixer, using the dough hook. Add the rest of the flour and knead (using the mixer still) for around 5-10 minutes, or until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Cover the bowl and place in a warm place. Allow to rise until doubled in size - around 1.5-3 hours, depending on the temperature. (Our house was freezing when I made these, so I switched on the oven for 20 minutes and placed the bowl on a stool in front of the oven - worked a charm!) (For step by step pictures on how to make brioche dough, please refer to this blog post.)
4. Making the strawberry jam. I recommend making this ahead of time as you have to let the jam simmer for quite some time. Cut up your strawberries in small chunks and place in a medium saucepan along with all the ingredients except the gelatin mixture. Allow to come to a boil and then set to a simmer. When most of the water has evaporated and you've got a thick gloopy mixture, add the gelatin mixture. Allow to cool in the fridge, so that the gelatin will set.
5. Making the chocolate filling. Heat the cream in the microwave in short bursts. In the meantime, chop up the chocolate finely. Once the cream has come to a boil, add the chocolate and allow to sit for around 10 minutes. Stir to combine until glossy. Allow to sit in the fridge for around an hour or so. When ready to use, whisk to aerate it.
6. Making the custard filling. Whisk the double cream until stiff peaks form. Add the custard in thirds, mixing after each addition. Set aside until ready to use.
7. Making the doughnuts. Once the dough has risen, flour your work surface and roll out the dough around 1/2 an inch thick. Cut out 4inch wide circles and place on a floured tray. Cover and allow to rest again for around 1.5hrs-2hrs until around doubled in size.
8. Prepare your station. Have your pot on the hob, a tray covered in tissue paper (to soak up excess oil) right beside you, and then a large bowl/tray with the sugar and cinnamon coating mixed in right beside it. When frying, you're going to go from the pot, to the tissue paper, to the sugar mixture.
9. Once your doughnuts have doubled in size, get a large pot and fill it with the oil - make sure to leave at least 3 inches at the top - if your pot is slightly small do not use all the oil. Safety is of the utmost importance here - you do not want your oil to spill out when adding the doughnuts. Leave on high for a while - we need this to get proper hot. A way to test this is to tear of a small amount of dough and throw it into the pot. If the oil doesn't react at all, it's still too cold, if it reacts, set the heat down to medium-low and start frying one doughnut at a time.
10. Fry the doughnuts for around 2-3 minutes on either side, flipping gently halfway through. The true star when making doughnuts is a chopstick to check if they've cooked through. Tap the doughnut on both sides - if it sounds hollow, it is LIKELY done. Take it out of the oil and poke through the centre from the side using the chopstick or skewer. If it comes out clean, you're good to move on to your next doughnut. Repeat until done.
11. Allow the doughnuts to cool completely before attempting to fill.
12. Filling the doughnuts. Once the doughnuts have cooled down, use an apple corer to poke a large hole through the doughnut from one of the sides. The doughnut 'core' doesn't always come out and will sometimes just get pushed to the bottom - this is completely fine.
13. Fill piping bags with your fillings and start filling your doughnuts until they feel heavy and full. I personally like it when the filling is coming out of the top slightly as it makes them look nicer (I think).
14. Enjoy warmed up in the microwave, or cold! These will keep for around 2-3 days in an airtight container.
Recreating this recipe? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!
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