Traditional Doughnuts

Hello and a great big welcome to Friday! Its not just Friday however, its Fat Friday! Where stuffing your face with food is encouraged. This week we're looking at doughnuts.

These are traditional jam filled doughnuts. Which are fluffy on the inside and have a little bite on the outside, thanks to the cinnamon sugar. I've chosen raspberry but feel free to add strawberry jam, custard or pastry cream. Doughnuts are easy-ish to make, the most difficult part is the cooking process. Doughnuts have a tendency to cook quickly and will float around all over the place. Also, hot oil is dangerous so this recipe isn't recommended for children. If you feel uncomfortable with hot oil, have someone who is more confident at cooking with it.
So with the health and safety out of the way, lets bake... I mean fry!

Ingredients: Will make 10 giant sized doughnuts, or 20 medium doughnuts (Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food Website)

• 500g strong white flour, plus a little extra
• 50g caster sugar
• 40g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 free-range eggs
• 2 x 7g sachets instant yeast
• 10g/¼oz salt
• 150ml/5fl oz warm milk
• 130ml/4½fl oz water
• 1 large jar smooth raspberry jam
• 300g sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• Loads of oil for frying (sunflower/vegetable)

Equipment:

• Deep fat fryer/Saucepan filled with oil
• Sieve
• Bowl
• Baking sheet x 2, one lined with flour and the other lined with sugar and cinnamon
• Disposable piping bag
• (Mixer with a dough hook attachment-Optional)
• Damp Tea-towel
• Spoon
• Slotted Spoon
• Small knife

 

1.Place all ingredients into a large bowl, holding back a 1/4 of the water and stir with your hands until a dough is formed. This will get messy, so please make sure your hands are clean.

2.Add the remaining water and knead the dough in the bowl for about 4 minutes. (Or you could mix with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook which is what I did).

3.Tip dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. (Again, I used a dough hook on a stand mixer and mix for 10 minutes.)

4.Place the dough into a clean bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for an hour. Make yourself a cup of tea, wash up or maybe watch a bit of TV.

5.The dough will have doubled in size. Tip the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface, and knead it a few times to knock the air out of it.

6.Divide the dough into 10/20 portions and shape each portion into a ball.

7.Place all balls onto a floured baking tray and allow to rise for an hour.

8.Preheat sunflower oil in a saucepan. Meanwhile get a baking sheet and mix the cinnamon and 300g sugar together on the tray.

9.Pop the doughnuts into the fat, cooking each side for about five minutes or until golden brown. Put around 3/4 in at a time to avoid them sticking

10. Remove the doughnuts from the oil with a slotted spoon and immediately roll into the sugared baking sheet.

11.Set aside and leave to cool.

12.When completely cold, cut into the side of the doughnut, reaching to the centre, this will be where the jam will go.

13.Spoon some smooth strawberry jam into a piping bag and pipe until full but not bursting.

What is your favourite jam filling? Want to share your Fat Friday food moment? Use the hashtag #fatfridays on Instagram and twitter.
Have a good weekend and happy baking (or frying..)!

Devonshire Splits, Bath Buns and Fruit Buns. With One Dough!

Another pastry class and a week closer to another crazy assessment!
Next week I'm making a flavoured loaf which was featured in a past blog post. 
However this week I've been making a plain sweet dough. Which sounds a little boring, but the whole class made a variety of different buns. 

In the class we made Devonshire Splits. When I think of Devon, I think of my friends Leanne and Ben and secondly of traditional cream tea. Now, no matter which country in the world tries. The BEST cream tea is from the UK!

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Devonshire_tea.jpg

Traditionally clotted cream, jam are served with scones and hot tea. However Devonshire Splits aka Cornwall Splits, (there isn't a difference in the bun, but the name varies on if you put the jam or cream on first) can also be served with instead of scones.  Just would like to point out that we also made some Devonshire Splits with fondant icing on top, which look very similar to éclairs. 

Devonshire Splits made by me in pastry class

Bath buns are sweet dough buns which can be filled with fruits such as raisins and can be served with jam or cream or even both! They are always topped with crushed sugar. 

Bath buns(far left) with different shaped Devonshire Splits.(Made by me) 

Recipe: Basic Bun Dough 

·       600g Strong Flour

·       15g Milk powder

·       75g Sugar

·       7g Salt

·       60g Unsalted butter

·       30g Liquid egg

·       37g Yeast

·       300g Warm Water

Devonshire Splits with icing:

·       500g Fondant Icing

·       Whipped Cream

Devonshire Splits:

·       Whole Egg for glazing

·       Whipped Cream

·       Raspberry Jam

Bath Buns

·       Whole Egg for glazing

·       Crushed sugar 
        
Fruit Buns
· 75g Sultanas

Equipment

·       Sieve

·       Bowl

·       Jug

·       Large baking sheet covered with silicone paper

·       2x Piping bags, one fitted with a star nozzle

·       Spoons

·       Pastry brush for the egg glaze

·       Whisk for the whipping cream

1.    Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the milk powder. Rub the butter into the flour until mix resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the salt and sugar.

2.    Disperse yeast in some but not all of the water.

3.    Make a well in the flour mix, add the yeast water and also the egg. Add most of the yeasty water but not all. Knead the dough until the dough loses it’s stickiness. Add the rest of the water if the dough feels dry. 

4.    Cut into thirds. Mix 75g sultanas into one third of the dough, cut into 4’s and shape into round buns.

5.    Cut the two doughs into 4’s and shape four into oblongs and four into round buns.

6.    Place all the buns on the large tray covered with silicone paper and leave to proof for 30-45 minutes.

7.    Glaze the tops of the buns with a little egg wash and top the fruit buns with a little nibbed sugar.

8.    Bake at 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4/  for 15-20 minutes.

9. Place on a wire rack to cool.
10. Cut the plain buns slightly diagonally fill with cream and jam.

11. Cut the oblong buns across and top with melted fondant and fill with cream. Serve with tea!

Bake On!
Penny