Doughnut delights

There’s nothing like a soft, sugary doughnut with a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea. This weekend, get your hands busy with dough and make yourself that perfect evening snack

BENGALURU: Egg and yeast free bombolonis

Ingredients

•  Milk - 1/2 cup
• Vinegar - 1 tsp
• All purpose flour/maida - 1 and 1/2 cup
•  Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
•  Powder sugar - 1/4 cup
•  Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4tsp
•  Salt - 1/4 tsp
•  Melted butter - 1/4 cup
•  Curd - 1 tbsp
• Oil for frying

Method

• Add vinegar to the milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, these will make the donuts softer
• Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon powder to a large bowl. Now add the milk-vinegar, curd and melted butter to the dry ingredients.
• Gently knead all this together until it forms a dough. Let it sit on the counter for 45 minutes
• Divide the dough into equal rounds. Each dough ball should weigh 50g
• Shape the balls into rounds and let them rest for another 30 minutes
• Heat your oil and gently add the dough balls into hot oil
• Fry on each side for roughly 3 minutes until it turns golden brown. Once done, coat them in some caster sugar.     - Mannat Marwaha, @butterwithloveblr on Instagram

For the chocolate ganache filling
Dark chocolate  100 g
Fresh cream  100 g
Method
Bring the cream to a boil and pour it over the chopped chocolate, whisk well until the chocolate completely melts. 
Once it cools, use a piping bag to fill the chocolate into the bombolonis.

Classic Glazed Doughnuts

Ingredients
For the dough

• All purpose flour/maida (sifted) - 2 and 1/4 cups 
• Caster sugar - 2 and 1/2 tbsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp 
• Nutmeg (grated or powder) - 1/8 tsp
• Milk (lukewarm) - 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
• Instant dry yeast -  2 and 1/4 tsp
• Whole egg - 1
• Egg yolk - 1
• Melted unsalted butter - 3tbsp + 1tsp
• Sunflower oil for deep-frying

For the glaze

• Melted unsalted butter (warm) - 3 tbsp 
•  Milk (lukewarm) - 1/8 cup 
•  Vanilla extract - 1/4 tsp 
• Icing sugar/ powdered sugar - 1 cup + 2tbsp
•  Pinch of salt

Method
Preparing the dough: Mix together flour, half of the sugar, salt, nutmeg powder in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together milk, the remaining sugar, and yeast and let rise for 5-10 minutes. Add the beaten egg, egg yolk, and melted butter into the yeast mixture, mix well. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Start combining liquid with the dry using a rubber spatula. (The dough should be sticky, but do not add any additional flour.)
Kneading: Once it has come together in the bowl, turn the dough onto a clean and oiled work surface, apply a little bit of oil into your hands as well. Start kneading the dough by stretching and folding it, about 5 minutes of kneading, grab a plastic scraper to lift the dough from the table, and slap it back on your work surface, fold the dough, scrape, lift, slap, and repeat the same for about 5 to 10 minutes more, until the dough becomes soft, and elastic. Form into a ball.
Resting and shaping: Transfer the dough into a lightly-oiled bowl. Cover with plastic film or a damp cloth, let it rise for an hour or until it is doubled in size. Dust flour in your work surface,  transfer the dough on the table, dust more flour on top, roll the dough out to half an inch thickness. Cut the doughnuts using a 3” doughnut cutter or cookie cutter. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper or dust it heavily with flour, place the doughnuts, lightly cover the tray and start heating the oil.
Frying: Heat the oil on medium flame, fry the doughnuts at around 160 degrees C for one-and-a-half minutes on each side. Maintain the temperature of the oil so it will cook evenly inside.
Glazing: Combine all ingredients, whisk until well combined. Adjust the consistency based on your preference. Glaze the doughnuts while they’re still warm.

- Eunice Luna Sakkari, @lunapatisserie.blr on Instagram

Paczki or Polish doughnuts

Ingredients
For the dough

•  Sugar - 1/4 cup
•  Eggs - 2
•  Milk - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
•  Instant dry yeast - 2 tsp
•  Dark rum - 1 tbsp (optional)
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
•  Flour - 2 cups + 3/4  cup
•  Salt - 1 and 1/2 tsp
•  Butter, softened - 3 tbsp
• Vegetable oil - 500 ml
• Icing sugar - For dusting
• For the filling
•  Cherries, pitted - 400g
•  Sugar -  1 cup
• Juice of 1 lime

Method

Making the dough 

• Whisk the sugar, eggs, milk, yeast, dark rum and vanilla in a bowl. With a handheld mixer or stand mixer on the lowest setting, slowly add the flour and salt mix to the wet ingredients and mix for 1-2 minutes with a dough hook.
• Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes.
• On high speed, knead the dough for 10 minutes. Add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time.
• The dough should leave the sides of the bowl and be smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a tight round and place in a lightly oiled bowl.
• Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let it ferment for 2 hours or until doubled in size. De-gas the dough by pressing into it.
• To shape the dough, flour the work surface and roll the dough into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Cut the dough using a 3 inch round cutter. Place the cut dough on a lightly floured surface and cover with plastic wrap. Proof the dough for 1 hour.

Frying the dough

• When the dough leaves a slight indent when poked, it is ready to be fried.
• Preheat the vegetable oil to 180 degrees C in a heavy bottom pan.
• To fry the Paczki, carefully lower the dough into the oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry for a minute on each side until golden brown.
• Remove from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely before filling.
• Use a small knife and make a slit in the Paczki to make a hole on the inside. Fill with the cherry jam (or any filling of your choice). Generously dust with icing sugar.

For the filling
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.
Reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until thickened. Cool completely before filling the Paczki.

- Sai Motupali Nair, @ithacabysai on Instagram