Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Fluffy Lemon-Glazed Doughnuts

It's finally my turn to tackle some doughnuts.  I've tried multiple recipes, had some successes, some "maybes," some failures, but in the end I came out with something great.  Every great recipe takes a lot time and practice so I'll admit it's not perfect but it sure had me glued to the kitchen table tasting doughnut after doughnut just to "make sure" it tasted good (such a great excuse).

I got my inspiration from Joanne Chang's recipe in Flour.  Having tested some recipes before this I knew how important it was to love the dough.  The mixing process takes education and experience and the rising process takes patience, a lot of it.  Most doughnut doughs have two rises; the first in the fridge from a couple hours to overnight, and the second in a warm, draft-free spot to double in size.  I knew from experience how important this was because of course I got too eager and fried up the doughnuts before they were ready making my end product dense and leaving me in regret.  Doughnuts take a lot of time and self-restraint, but when you put all of that into the dough you are left with a great end product and a full stomach.  So, I put my twist on Chang's recipe and got to work getting inspiration from the great doughnuts I've tasted.  For the taste of the dough I thought of the subtle sweetness of Peter Pan's yeast-raised doughnuts, and for the glaze the perfectly tart and citrus glazes of Dough.  I still have plenty of doughnut recipes I want to try and experiment with but for now this is one great indulgence.  


Lemon-Glazed Doughnuts




Dough:
  • 1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast, or 2/3 oz (18 g) fresh yeast
  • 2/3 cup (160 g) milk, room temperature
  • 3 1/2 cups (440 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • About 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 7 tablespoons (100 grams) butter, room temperature, cubed
  • Canola Oil, for frying
  • Vanilla Sugar, Cinnamon Sugar, Superfine Sugar (optional)

Glaze:
  • Zest of one lemon
  • Juice of two lemons
  • Confectioners sugar, sifted



To Prepare the Dough:
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment stir together the yeast and warm milk until the yeast had dissolved and bubbles start to form.
  2. Add the flour, sugar, and eggs, and mix on low speed for about a minute or until the dough comes together, adding the salt about 15 seconds in.
  3. Continue to mix until the dough is fully developed, about 2-3 minutes.  I like to look for a "window," meaning when you grab the dough you can spread it apart with your fingers keeping the dough intact forming a nearly see-through sheet of dough. The dough will be sticky and tacky.
  4. Add the butter and continue to mix until the butter is fully combined and the dough is cohesive.
  5. Tightly wrap the dough is plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 15 hours.  I like to do my dough the night before and get right to work in the morning.
To Roll the Dough:
  1. Roll chilled dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12-in. square, 1/2-in. thick.
  2. Cut out desired sized doughnuts with a doughnut cutter or a floured glass rim (which is what I used), and a smaller circle cutter for the doughnut hole.  You can play around with the shapes if you'd like, I also made some twists! *scraps can be rerolled once!
  3. Arrange the cut doughnuts on a lightly floured baking sheet(s) spaced 2-in. apart, cover in plastic wrap sprayed with pan spray, and let them rise until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free spot, 2-3 hours.  The doughnuts will be puffy and pillowy.
*Use pictures below for reference

Rolled Dough
Cut Doughnuts

Prepare the Glaze/Prep Oil:
  1. When the doughnuts are almost at the peak point in rising start to prepare the glaze.
  2. Combine the lemon juice and zest in a small bowl.  
  3. Place sifted powdered sugar, about a cup, in a separate bowl.  
  4. Slowly at the lemon juice mixture to the powdered sugar about a tablespoon at a time using a fork to combine into a paste.  
  5. Add more of the lemon juice mixture until your desired thickness is reached.  The glaze is quite tart so I liked to make mine the consistency of a thick soup.
  6. Meanwhile, heat the canola oil in a large, heavy saucepan about 3-in. deep to 350 degrees.  To test if you oil is ready you can throw in a pinch of flour and if it sizzles on contact, the oil is ready.
Time to Fry:
Raised, Ready
Doughnuts
  1. Once the doughnuts have reached their rise.  You can test the rise by gently pressing you finger into the dough, if the imprint slowly disappears, the dough is ready. I like to go by the size of the doughnut (pictured right).
  2. Fry the doughnuts in batches of three, frying about 1-2 minutes on both side depending on the size, or until browned (pictured below). * Make sure to check your temperature while frying.  If the temperature is too high it will burn the doughnuts without cooking the inside and if the temperature is too low the doughnuts will soak up the oil making for a dense dough instead of light and fluffy.
  3. Place on paper towels to drain and cool.
  4. To glaze, allow the doughnuts to cool a bit and while still warm dip the top of the doughnuts in the lemon glaze letting the excess roll off to form a thin coat and let set.
  5. For something simpler, you can simply roll warm doughnuts in vanilla sugar, superfine sugar, or cinnamon sugar.  

Frying Doughnuts
Browned, Fried Doughnuts



Hope you enjoy your doughnuts..

Have any questions? Leave a comment or e-mail me!

No comments:

Post a Comment