Brioche Doughnuts
Like many, I enjoy a good doughnut. I especially love a good brioche doughnut. The tender, buttery doughnut made with brioche dough is the perfect complement to just about any filling. A good jelly filling is nice. A pastry cream does fine. But when a brioche doughnut is filled with a rich, light, airy, chocolate cream, the world seems like a better place. The yeasty, slightly fermented tasting doughnut against the slightly bitter chocolate filling is culinary art at its finest. And, believe it or not, a brioche doughnut like this is not that hard to make. Why? The dough can be made in a bread maker. It still takes some time, but lots of the work is done for you.
Brioche Doughnuts in Bread Maker?
Many poo-poo the use of a bread maker. I say poo-poo to them. I have made brioche dough by hand and it is not impossible, but getting all that butter incorporated takes a good 35 minutes of kneading. I just want a tasty brioche doughnut, so using a machine that can handle the kneading all on its own is attractive and it works. It makes a fine dough.
The bread maker doesn’t cure all the problems, though. I believe a brioche dough should be refrigerated overnight so there is still a lot of waiting when it comes to brioche doughnuts. You can cut the time in the fridge to about 2 hours, but it lacks that slightly boozy flavor that takes brioche doughnuts to a different level. The same can be said for a brioche bread. It is good to let that yeast work overtime. It just adds to the flavor.
Roll, Cut, Fry
Once the dough is made using the bread machine’s dough cycle and rested in the fridge, it is simply a matter of rolling, cutting and frying. Cutting a classic doughnut with a hole is simple. Cutting a doughnut to be filled is even simpler as it avoids the extra cutting. After cutting, the dough should be allowed to rise again.
The frying is best done in a deep fryer. Sure, you can use a pot on the stove with a good thermometer, but I prefer to use a separate deep fryer. It is much better at regulating the oil temperature and that makes frying a lot easier. Once the doughnuts are ready to fry, they cook in the oil about 1.5 minutes per side and then they are done, ready for shaking in sugar or filling.
A Chocolate Filled Brioche Doughnut
Sometimes it is enough to have unfilled doughnuts – simple doughnuts with a hole. These, when simply shaken in sugar, powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar are good. Very good. But a deluxe doughnut is one that is filled. There are many things that can be used to fill a doughnut. Raspberry Jelly. Lemon Curd. Pastry Cream. Apple Compote. The list goes on, but a simple chocolate cream is a stand out. A chocolate cream made from cream, sugar and cocoa powder that was been whipped stiff is enough. An extra shaking of powdered sugar and there you have it. It is, in my world, the doughnut of doughnuts.
The video below shows you all the steps and the full recipe follows.
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon of yeast
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 10 tablespoons of softened butter
- 1/4 cup of water
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- ½ cup of cocoa powder
- 4 tbsp of sugar
- Powdered Sugar
- Oil for frying
- Place all the ingredients in a bread maker and run the dough cycle. If the bread maker has a dough cycle with a longer kneading time and longer rise time, choose that cycle.
- When the dough cycle is complete, punch the dough down and transfer it to a large, buttered bowl. Cover the dough and let rise for 1 hour then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
- After refrigeration, roll the dough into a rectangle that is ¼-½ inch thick. Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out the doughnuts. If unfilled doughnuts are desired, using a 1 inch biscuit cutter, cut out a center hole in the doughnuts.
- Allow the doughnuts to rise 30 minutes in a warm place.
- Heat a deep fryer to 350F. Fry the doughnuts in batches for 1-½ minutes per side.
- Drain the doughnuts on a baking rack lined with paper towel.
- In a large bowl, add the cream, cocoa and sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat until stiff.
- Transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with a filling tip and squeeze the filling into the doughnuts.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- For the doughnuts with a hole, shake in a bag full of powdered sugar.
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4892 calories per serving? Really? That doesn’t seem a bit “off” to you? So you’re implying that one donut practically maxes out the total caloric requirements for an average male for like three full days?
Hi Chuck – just an issue with the recipe. There was no serving number included. No, 1 donut is not 40000 calories.