Donuts

My elder son likes donuts. In fact, he likes almost every kind of cakes and breads and buns. He used to ask me to buy donuts from bakeries for him. But I did not like that idea because those donuts contain too much oil and I’m not even sure what kind of oil is used or if they [those who make the donuts] use the oil again and again just to reduce the cost. In short, those donuts don’t seem to be healthy at all. So my son kept asking and I kept reasoning and refusing.

Now that I’ve got myself a bread maker and discovered its fantastic ability to make dough, I decided to make a batch of donuts for my son. It’s not difficult to make donuts with the help of a BM, the only disturbing thing is that you’ll have to suffer from the heat when deep frying the donuts. In a summer day when temperature goes up high, and in a small kitchen without an air-conditioner, frying donuts becomes a tough task. Anyway, the way my son enjoyed the donuts made me think that it was all worth it :).

Recipe (from here)

Ingredients: (about 25 pieces with diameter of about 6cm)
- 150g bread flour
- 100g cake flour
- 10g milk powder
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 30g sugar
- 5g salt
- 1 3/4 tsp instant dry yeast
- 1 egg yolk
- 70ml cold water
- 70ml cold milk
- 25g melted butter

Sugar for coating:
1/2 cup sugar

Method:
1. Put everything in the bread machine according to what your machine's manual said (normally liquid first, then dry ingredients, then yeast last) and start the dough cycle. Once the dough cycle is complete you can start to shape it.
2. On a floured surface and with floured hands divide dough into 23g pieces and shape it into a ball. Pat it flat to about 1.5cm high and make a hole in the middle of the dough. To make the hole in the middle of the dough, I used a small O shape cookie cutter. You can also use a bottle cap. The dough you cut from the holes could be gathered then be made into some more donuts.
3. Prove the shaped dough for 30 minutes on a greased tray covered loosely with glad wrap in a warm environment.
4. Fill the wok with oil about 2.5 inches deep and fry the dough for 30 seconds on each side or till lightly golden brown. Drain well and pat dry with absorbent paper towel before coating them in sugar.
5. Serve warm.

Notes for those without bread machine:

- Mix all ingredients in a big mixing bowl except butter (do not melt butter but use room temperature butter). Mix well to form a dough.
- Add in the butter and knead into a smooth elastic dough. Prove in a covered mixing bowl for 60 minutes. The rest of the process you can follow step (2) from above.

I know, I know, this picture looks weird. I just want to show the texture of the donuts :)

To play it safe, I fried the donuts to the point that they turned a bit brown (not just light golden brown like the ones at the bakeries). They were soft and good when eating right after that, but they became harder (just a little bit, though) the next day, maybe because I fried them too much :-\. I did not coat them with sugar because I didn’t want my son to eat too much sugar, so the donuts were not too sweet.

I’m submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #8 June 2011(BREAD SEDUCTION) hosted by Jasmine @ Sweetylicious.

Braided bread with your favorite filling

As I’ve always admitted, I love baking but making breads and buns frightened me with the long time for the dough to rest and rise. When Jasmine @ Sweetylicious, who is hosting Aspiring Bakers project for June, chose the theme to be BREAD SEDUCTION, at first, I was taken aback. I did not know what to bake to submit (while I’d love to submit at least one bake). After reading a lot of posts @ many blogs, I realized that in most cases, I could make things easier for myself by letting my bread maker do the kneading and first rise. Now I’m so interested in trying many kinds of breads and buns with the help of my lovely bread maker :).

Of the bread/bun recipes I’ve been collecting, there’s a kind of breads that’s so eye-catching: braided breads. A braided bread looks like a princess on its own. It’s also great because you can have various kinds of fillings. Since I’ve got a block of Philadelphia cream cheese and an opened jar of blueberry preserve (of which one third was used to make blueberry madeleines the other day) in my fridge, I went for braided bread with cream cheese and blueberry preserve filling.

This was the first time I made a braided bread, and actually this was among the first few times I made breads, so I had to read the recipe and instructions very carefully. King Arthur Flour has a great recipe and also step-by-step instruction, which was really helpful. Really understanding the recipe did help, because when making this bread, I realized it was not as difficult as I had thought. Yes, it takes time to do that braiding job, but your efforts will pay up. The result should be a beautiful bread, which looks like a work of art.

Well, my bread may not look like an expensive work of art, because this was my first time, remember? :) But I liked it a lot. This is the only photo I have, taken with my phone, because all the bread was quickly consumed, as dessert, as supper and as breakfast :). That's why I couldn't take a better photo with a real camera.

Recipe (adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Sponge:

• 85g warm water (I used room temperature water because it’s summer here)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½  tablespoon instant yeast
• 29g AP flour

Dough

• all of the sponge
• 85g plain yogurt
• 57g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 302g AP flour
• egg wash for brushing braid

Cream cheese filling

• 70g cream cheese, softened
• 25g caster sugar
• 28g sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 15g AP flour
• 57g blueberry preserve

Sponge

• 6 ounces warm water
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Dough

• all of the sponge
• 6 ounces plain or vanilla yogurt
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 3 1/2 ounces sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor OR vanilla
• 21 1/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• egg wash for brushing braid
• pearl sugar or sparkling white sugar for sprinkling on braid

Cream cheese filling

• 5 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 3/4 ounces sugar
• 2 ounces sour cream
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 4 ounces prepared lemon curd

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the sponge ingredients. Stir well to combine, loosely cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to proof for 10 to 15 minutes.

1) Pour ingredients to the pan of your bread maker, in this order: sponge, yogurt, egg, vanilla, sugar, flour, salt. Choose “dough” program. After 5 minutes, add butter to the pan. Let the cycle complete itself.

2) While the dough is rising, prepare the filling (I made the filling early in the morning and put it in the fridge to use later the same day. Take it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before use so it can soften). Combine all the filling ingredients (except the preserve) in a small bowl, mixing until smooth and lump-free (I did this with a wire whisk). Reserve the filling and preserve until ready to fill the braids.

3) When the bread maker completes the task, take the dough out (with lightly greased hands) and gently deflate the dough. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Roll it out into a 25x38cm (10x15 in) rectangle. Rolling on parchment paper makes moving the bread to the baking sheet much, much easier. Lightly press two lines down the dough lengthwise, to divide it into 3 equal sections. Spread the cream cheese filling down the center section, and top with blueberry preserve, leaving 1" free on all sides of the filling.

4) To form the mock braid, cut 1" crosswise strips down the length of the outside sections, making sure you have the same number of strips down each side. Beginning on the left, lift the top dough strip and gently bring it across the filling diagonally. Repeat on the other side with the top dough strip, so that the two strips crisscross each other. Continue down the entire braid, alternating strips to form the loaf.

6) Set the braided loaf aside, lightly covered, to rise for 30-45 minutes, or until quite puffy.

7) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the loaf with egg wash (one lightly beaten egg, 2 teaspoons water and a pinch of salt), and sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the loaf’s golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious.