October 28th, 2020
Raspberry Jam Doughnuts — Yeasted doughnut with soup kitchen raspberry jam (16 doughnuts)
Note: I have made these doughnuts a bunch of times. I think the biggest motivating factor beyond the fact that doughnuts are cooked to order and delicious and warm and fragrant, is the abundance of raspberry jam that I have made from cases of slightly moldy raspberries, numerous torn bags of sugar and lemon “mispicks.” The latest batch on the 2nd of November was my favorite. In an effort to keep things simple I made once batch of dough and I kept it vegan. So I had to replace the eggs. i had planned on substituting additional cashew milk yogurt for the eggs. But by chance, on Tuesday morning, Brit brought me a cs. of vegan cashew cheese — Dr. Cow Aged Cashew Cheese. I opted to replace the eggs with two containers of this cheese. Fermented products like buttermilk, cashew milk yogurt, sour cream, yogurt, and cashew milk cheese, beer, wine, sourdough starter, and even vinegar really add flavor and texture to yeasted doughs, tart and scone doughs and even cake and pancake batters. I recommend recipes that use fermented products. So below are two recipes. The first has eggs. The second is vegan and I used the fermented cashew cheese as well as some cashew milk yogurt. If you cannot get cashew cheese, use cashew yogurt and coconut yogurt.
Omni doughnut dough
· 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast, 1 packet of dry yeast
· 1 cup water
· 1 1/4 cup flour
· 1/4 cup buttermilk or whey or yogurt or sour cream
· 2 egg yolks
· 2 oz. ricotta cheese or cream cheese or goat cheese
· 2.5 cups All Purpose flour
· 3 oz. solid fat (butter or coconut oil)
· 2 teaspoons salt
· 2 Tablespoons sugar
· grate or two of nutmeg
· 8 oz. jar of jam and or Nutella for filling
· 1 cup granulated sugar mixed with ¼ tsp. cinnamon for rolling the doughnuts once they are fried
· 1 bottle of peanut oil, canola oil, sunflower oil for frying
Vegan doughnut dough
· 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast, 1 packet of dry yeast
· 1 cup water
· 1 1/4 cup flour
· 1/2 cup coconut or cashew yogurt or vegan sour cream
· 2 oz. cashew cheese (replace with yogurt if you cannot get cheese)
· 2.5 cups All Purpose flour
· 3 oz. solid fat (coconut oil)
· 2 teaspoons salt
· 3 Tablespoons sugar
· grate or two of nutmeg
· 8 oz. jar of jam and or Nutella for filling
· 1 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1/8 tsp. cinnamon and 1/8 tsp. of ground cardamom for rolling the doughnuts once they are fried
· 1 bottle of peanut oil, canola oil, sunflower oil for frying
Dough and proofing instructions:
Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of water and mix in 1 1/4 cups flour. Let this starter ferment and sit for 15 minutes to 1.5 hrs.
Meanwhile add the remaining flour, sugar, and salt to your bowl. Make a well in the center and add the egg yolks, sour dairy product and cheese (if you are making the vegan version, add the vegan yogurt and cheeses instead of the eggs and dairy cheese and yogurts). Add the yeasted starter mixture as well.
Begin mixing the liquid ingredients with a wooden spoon or your hand and gradually incorporate the dry ingredients. Once you have a shaggy dough, add the butter or coconut oil and begin kneading the dough with the heel of your hand. Knead for 2-3 minutes until the fat is incorporated. It is ok if there are remaining pebbles of fat. Let the dough rest, covered for 15 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough with wet hands every 20 minutes, repeating 3 times. Let dough rise, covered, and untouched for 1 hr.
Grease a baking sheet with coconut oil or butter. Roll the dough out until it is 1/2” thick and, using a circular cookie cutter (2 – 21/4” in diameter), cut out as many circles of dough as you can and lay them out on your greased tray. Kneed the scraps together and repeat the rolling and cutting process a second time. You should get about 25 circles.
Let the dough circles rise for 30-45 minutes in a warm place, covered with a piece of parchment or wax paper.
Frying and Filling Instructions:
Five minutes before you are ready to fry the doughnuts, heat your oil up in a fry pan or saucepan. Make sure you have enough oil so that it comes up 3/4” from the bottom of your pan.
Test the oil for temperature before you begin frying. Put a tiny pinch of dough into the oil. The dough sliver should bubble and float to the top but it should not brown immediately. If you have a thermometer, the temperature should be around 360. Once the oil reaches this temperature, you only need a medium-low flame to maintain it. Oil temperature is important. If it is too hot, the doughnuts brown too quickly and don’t cook in the center. If the oil is not hot enough, the doughnuts are heavy and greasy tasting.
Place 4-8 circles of dough in the hot oil, depending on the size of your pan and let them cook, gradually browning on each side — 4 minutes in total. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on some paper towels or a wire rack to drain the excess oil. Then roll them in cinnamon sugar.
Poke a hole in the side of each doughnut with a paring knife. If you have a metal pastry tip (large tip with a ¼” or 3/8” round hole) and a bag, fill your bag with jam or whatever filling you are using. Poke your tip into the hole you made with the paring knife (make sure you get the tip to the center of the doughnut) and then squeeze a hefty portion of jam or Nutella into the doughnut. Stop squeezing and remove the bag.
If you do not have a pastry bag. Put your jam into a ziplock sandwich bag and cut a hole in the corner. Squeeze the jam bag into the doughnut hole you made with the knife.