Last Friday I got an e-mail from a colleague:
Subject: Monday morning, get up early and...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/16/how-cook-perfect-jam-doughnuts
Nothing more. Simply a culinary gauntlet thrown with stark impunity. There was clearly no way I was not going to make jam doughnuts. It was on my mind all weekend but there wasn't an opportunity to make them until last night.
I have an unstable relationship with yeast. Sometimes I crack out some beautiful airy doughy delights. At other times I get heavy hard lumps.
After mixing the dough together, I was not hopeful. It seemed very tough and even after kneading for a while it hadn't become any more elastic. Nevertheless, I left it to prove (I recently learnt that the term is used because you are "proving" that the yeast works, so now you know) with scant optimism. Even after a good hour the dough had grown only little bit, but since I'd invested so much and I do so love using my mini deep-fat fryer, I decided to carry on and formed my doughnuts. The dough wasn't pliable enough to be worked into proper buns, so I ended up with some round-ish balls.
By this time it was quite late in the evening and I was quite up for a tasty deep-fried sugary snack. 8 minutes of frying in the hot vat later I had a golden ball. A quick roll in caster sugar and it was ready to eat.
It was too hot to attempt to squeeze in the jam, so I just spooned some on the side. And I have to say it was pretty good. A touch dense but a hot sweet sticky doughnut it most certainly was. (Is there anyone who can resist hot doughnuts? Those vans that sell 5 for £1 are my dirtiest guilty pleasure.)
I fried off the remainder and resolved to take them in to work.
In order to get the jam in I heated it up and put it in a squeezy bottle. I also let the doughnuts cool down a little so I could actually hold them. I thought I did a reasonable job of getting jam in each one. Turns out that wasn't the case. The dense centre (as a result of the dough not proving) meant that the jam had nowhere to go. I hadn't noticed the dense texture with my warm one. These doughnuts were most definitely best fresh out of the fryer.
Subject: Monday morning, get up early and...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/16/how-cook-perfect-jam-doughnuts
Nothing more. Simply a culinary gauntlet thrown with stark impunity. There was clearly no way I was not going to make jam doughnuts. It was on my mind all weekend but there wasn't an opportunity to make them until last night.
I have an unstable relationship with yeast. Sometimes I crack out some beautiful airy doughy delights. At other times I get heavy hard lumps.
After mixing the dough together, I was not hopeful. It seemed very tough and even after kneading for a while it hadn't become any more elastic. Nevertheless, I left it to prove (I recently learnt that the term is used because you are "proving" that the yeast works, so now you know) with scant optimism. Even after a good hour the dough had grown only little bit, but since I'd invested so much and I do so love using my mini deep-fat fryer, I decided to carry on and formed my doughnuts. The dough wasn't pliable enough to be worked into proper buns, so I ended up with some round-ish balls.
By this time it was quite late in the evening and I was quite up for a tasty deep-fried sugary snack. 8 minutes of frying in the hot vat later I had a golden ball. A quick roll in caster sugar and it was ready to eat.
It was too hot to attempt to squeeze in the jam, so I just spooned some on the side. And I have to say it was pretty good. A touch dense but a hot sweet sticky doughnut it most certainly was. (Is there anyone who can resist hot doughnuts? Those vans that sell 5 for £1 are my dirtiest guilty pleasure.)
I fried off the remainder and resolved to take them in to work.
In order to get the jam in I heated it up and put it in a squeezy bottle. I also let the doughnuts cool down a little so I could actually hold them. I thought I did a reasonable job of getting jam in each one. Turns out that wasn't the case. The dense centre (as a result of the dough not proving) meant that the jam had nowhere to go. I hadn't noticed the dense texture with my warm one. These doughnuts were most definitely best fresh out of the fryer.Still I think they went down OK with the selected few who I dared offer one too:
taste is good as you said rather dense and because of that the sweetness doesn’t last through the amount of time to eat the mouthfulGreat 1st try though – happy to try them until you reach dunkin donuts standard!
and
Mine was on the dense side, I certainly know I eaten one – tasty tho Good work
You just know I'm going to have to have another go at some point...
Jam Doughnuts (from The Guardian)
Ingredients:
300g strong white flour, plus extra to dust
7g dried yeast
½ tsp salt
15g caster sugar, plus extra to dust
20g unsalted butter, at room temperature, chopped, plus extra to grease
65ml whole milk, warmed
45ml warm water
1 egg, beaten
6 tsp raspberry jam
Method:
1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Put the butter into a bowl with the warm milk and water, and stir to melt. Pour this into the mixing bowl, along with the egg, and stir until it comes together into a dough: it should be firm, but soft.
2. Tip on to a lightly floured surface, or into a mixer fitted with a dough hook, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Put into a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).
3. Shape into 6 balls of about 80g each, folding each side tightly into the centre in turn, turning as you go, then turn the ball over and put it on a lightly floured baking tray or board, spacing them well apart. Cover and leave to rise again for 45 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a large pan or deep-fat fryer to 160C. Cook the doughnuts in 2 batches for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden, then blot with kitchen paper and sprinkle with caster sugar. Allow to cool slightly, then make a small hole in the side of each, and use a piping bag to inject a splodge of jam. Eat immediately, while they're still warm.
Ingredients:
300g strong white flour, plus extra to dust
7g dried yeast
½ tsp salt
15g caster sugar, plus extra to dust
20g unsalted butter, at room temperature, chopped, plus extra to grease
65ml whole milk, warmed
45ml warm water
1 egg, beaten
6 tsp raspberry jam
Method:
1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Put the butter into a bowl with the warm milk and water, and stir to melt. Pour this into the mixing bowl, along with the egg, and stir until it comes together into a dough: it should be firm, but soft.
2. Tip on to a lightly floured surface, or into a mixer fitted with a dough hook, and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Put into a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about an hour).
3. Shape into 6 balls of about 80g each, folding each side tightly into the centre in turn, turning as you go, then turn the ball over and put it on a lightly floured baking tray or board, spacing them well apart. Cover and leave to rise again for 45 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a large pan or deep-fat fryer to 160C. Cook the doughnuts in 2 batches for about 3 minutes on each side, until golden, then blot with kitchen paper and sprinkle with caster sugar. Allow to cool slightly, then make a small hole in the side of each, and use a piping bag to inject a splodge of jam. Eat immediately, while they're still warm.
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