Thursday, October 10, 2024

Doughnuts #recipe #giveaway @vmburns

VMBURNS: I have always wanted to make doughnuts, so when I saw that The Sweet & Savory Classroom in Chattanooga was hosting a class on making them, I called my friend and fellow baking enthusiast, Melinda, and signed us up. This wasn't my first class with The Sweet & Savory Classroom. Last Christmas Melinda and I learned to make Christmas Star Bread. That came out great, so I was certain that I would be able to FINALLY make a delicious donut. We made both a cake donut and a yeast doughnuts, but I'm going to include the yeast recipe. If you remember my post from my last class, Chef Heather recommends weighing your ingredients. I knew there were different types of flour (cake flour, all purpose flour, etc.). I didn't know there was high gluten flour. This recipes uses high gluten flour, but you can also use an all purpose flour.

YEAST DOUGHNUTS

INGREDIENTS

1 oz. Granulated Sugar
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
7 oz. Flour (high gluten)
.4 oz. Dry Milk
Pinch Cinnamon
.75 oz. Butter
1.25 oz. Eggs
1.75 oz Buttermilk
3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla
3/4 Teaspoon Instant Yeast
2 oz. Water

SUGAR GLAZE

8 oz. Powdered Sugar
1 Teaspoon Corn Syrup
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
Water as needed

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the sugar, flour, dry milk, cinnamon, yeast, and butter.
Add the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and water in thirds. Mix, then add then next third. Mix and then add the last third.
Mix and kneed to form a smooth, soft dough.
Cover dough and allow to double in size.
Divide dough in two pieces.
Roll out dough to 1/2" thick. Cut out donuts and place onto a parchment lined sheet pan. *Unlike when making biscuits or cookies, do not reroll the dough. That will make for tough doughnuts.
Proof until about double.
Heat 2 inches of oil until temperature is between 360 -380 degrees. Fry doughnuts until golden brown (about 2 minutes). Carefully flip the doughnuts and brown the other side.
Remove from oil and place onto a baking sheet to allow for excess oil to drain.
Toss doughnuts into cinnamon/sugar while still hot or dip in sugar glaze once the doughnuts have cooled a little.
(OPTIONAL) Mix the powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla. It will be thick. Add a splash of water and mix. Continue mixing until you have a smooth glaze. Dip cooled doughnuts into glaze and immediately top with toppings of choice.

Making doughnuts with my friend Melinda was fun, although I did have a couple of mishaps which will likely find there way into a future Baker Street Mystery book. :-)

READERS: Chef Heather had lots of toppings including: Oreos, sprinkles, coconut, ganache, cereal, candies, nuts, and glaze. I kept it simple and only used the glaze and the ganache. What's your favorite donut and/or topping? Let me know in the comments for your chance to win a kindle copy of A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death.

A CUP OF FLOUR, A PINCH OF DEATH
On the shores of Lake Michigan, influencer Maddy Montgomery has turned the bakery she inherited from her great aunt Octavia into a destination. There’s just one thing she won’t post: the body in the freezer . . .
Thanks to Maddy’s social media savvy, Baby Cakes Bakery is becoming a huge success—so much so that she’s attracted the attention of her former nemesis, the fiancé-stealing Brandy Denton. When Brandy blows into New Bison like an ill wind and disrupts a vlog Maddy’s filming, their argument goes viral. After Brandy’s body is found in the freezer at Baby Cakes, Maddy instantly goes from viral sensation to murder suspect.
AS Maddy is still reeling from the murder, a stranger shows up in the bakery claiming to have been a friend of Octavia. He believes Maddy is in danger. When a second body washes up on the lake shore, it seems clear someone’s out to kill to keep a secret—and it may have to do with her great aunt.

Maddy rallies her aunt’s friends, the Baker Street Irregulars; Sheriff April Johnson; and her veterinarian boyfriend Michael—not to mention her English mastiff Baby—to do some digging and root out whoever’s behind the killings. . .