Doughnuts and a Patch of Warmth

Fresh doughnuts: golden puffs of sweet doughy goodness

It's not yet winter but nobody bothered to let Mother Nature know. We're waking up to mornings of 1C or less. Since I'm no fan of bitter cold days, a little patch of warmth inside my marvellous kitchen is a joy devoutly to be wished. And nothing says warmth like baking.

When my eldest son complained of feeling hard done by because he missed out on eating the last of the store-bought doughnuts to his younger brother, I promised him I'd make some. I've made doughnuts before and it's something that fills me with both dread and joy. The dread comes from the anticipation of getting the mix right, of not knowing whether it will rise enough, or puff the way it should when fried.

And the joy? Well, there is nothing as sumptuous as the smell of a kitchen filled with the aroma of freshly cooking doughnuts. It's a unique smell. It's not the deep, earthy aroma of a bread dough, or the sweet vanilla, chocolate or flavour-of-your-choice aroma of a cake. It's not the half-way-inbetween sweet earthiness of brioche. It is an unmistakable, uplifting, heart-lightening, worry-dissipating aroma all of its own. It has the power to entrance and delight. The power to carry the soul to another plane.

And there's nothing quite so close to unadulterated bliss as the taste of that first hot doughnut, drained, and dusted in cinnamon sugar. Feeling the slight crunch as your teeth break the crust then sink slowly into the light, fluffy fried dough, the smell of cinnamon wafting up to your nose, sugar coating your lips and spreading gently across your tongue. The burst and pop of tastebuds all across your tongue, as the flavours combine and your salivary glands spring into action.

There are things to remember and rules to follow when making doughnuts. They require yeast so, like bread, they need to be double proven to really work well. It means spending a little more time, but it's definitely worth it. I can't emphasise enough how important it is to double prove the dough (for breads and for doughnuts). This batch are probably my best to date. They rose beautifully and the gluten in the flour stretched its cobwebby fingers across pockets of nothingness, giving the doughnuts an ethereal lightness. Like all baking and bread recipes, you need to stick to the recipe as much as humanly possible.

I like deviating wildly from recipes and seeing what happens. In the kitchen, I'm a veritable mad-scientist tossing together ingredients like volatile chemicals, playing fast and loose with timings and temperatures to see what emerges, but I've learned along the way that breads and baked desserts are not to be messed with. They are the starched, Victorian, stiff-lipped, highly rule-governed great aunts of the baking world. They work according to ratios, so don't fiddle with the quantities, temperatures or timings. This, of course, comes with its own caveat. You can always fiddle with the quantities of flour and milk. In fact, it's necessary to do so according to the ambient humidity. The more moisture in the air, the more flour you'll need. The hotter and drier the day, the more liquid you'll need. The cooler the weather... well, you get the idea. Use your best judgement to get a firm, pliable and soft dough that's easy to knead.

...and don't forget the "holes"!

Doughnuts
(makes 30 doughnuts plus 30 holes - depending on size of cookie cutter)
Ingredients:
110g butter, cubed
375g plain flour
5 egg yolks
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp caster sugar
20g yeast
3/4 cup warm milk

oil for deep frying
caster sugar and ground cinnamon for dredging

Method:
Place milk, sugar and yeast in a bowl and stir until dissolved. Whisk in egg yolks.

Add flour to bowl of food processor. With motor on low speed, slowly pour in egg mixture and knead for 5 minutes.

Increase speed to medium, then add butter in 3 batches and beat until dough comes together. Remove dough and knead on a clean, dry surface until dough becomes shiny and smooth.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap (Glad Wrap/Cling Wrap etc.) and stand in a draught-free, warm place for at least 1 hour or until mixture doubles in volume.

Knock down dough, then roll out on a work surface until 2 cm thick (don't roll it too thin or you'll get flat doughnuts!). Use a cookie or pastry cutter to cut out your doughnuts. Remember that doughnuts will expand in the second proving, so don't worry if they look a little small when you cut them out. Use a smaller cookie cutter (I used the large end of an icing/frosting nozzle) to cut out the "holes" in the middle of the doughnut. Place doughnuts and holes around 4cm apart (to allow for expansion) on lightly oiled baking sheets (or you can cover your baking sheets in parchment/baking paper). Cover the trays and stand in a draught-free place for 1hour or until risen [I cheated a little here. I turned on the oven to around 200C while I was kneading, rolling and cutting the dough, then turned it off. I placed the doughnuts on the baking sheets in the warm oven with the door ajar to rise. It's much quicker and you get an even proofing].

Heat oil in a deep-fryer or deep saucepan to 180C [if you don't have a thermometer, it should take 10 seconds for a cube of bread to spin and brown. The temperature is important] and cook doughnuts in batches until golden on both sides. Drain well on absorbent paper [this step is important. Don't be tempted to dredge the doughnuts while still covered in oil. It makes them sweat and become sticky, and they won't last as long].

Dredge with combined caster sugar and ground cinnamon. Serve while still warm or wait till they cool down (these don't keep well and are best eaten within a couple of days).

NOTE: If you want jam-filled doughnuts, don't cut out the "holes". Proceed with the recipe otherwise and once dredged, use a long, thin piping nozzle and icing bag filled with jelly or conserve (use something with no pieces of fruit, which will get stuck in the end of the nozzle) to pierce and fill the doughnuts.