Raised Doughnut Tweaks
Comments from a few readers have spurred me to make a few changes to the raised doughnut recipe. I’ve always like them but they’re in overdrive now, boys and girls. Try them and see!
Comments from a few readers have spurred me to make a few changes to the raised doughnut recipe. I’ve always like them but they’re in overdrive now, boys and girls. Try them and see!
Hi Mr. Pastry…I made your original raised doughnuts this morning per your suggestion in the comments on “What’s next”. They are definitely the pillowy light doughnuts I was after, however I wonder if they would rise as much with less egg? The flavor was a touch too eggy for me, but not enough to complain they are awesome, just wondering. : )
Hey Christen!
You can cut back the egg if you like. Just eliminate the talks and substitute 1 1/4 ounces of water.
Glad they worked for you more or less! 😉
Cheers,
– Joe
Oh they worded excellently! I will try the cut and add suggestion. A little later in the day and this morning they didn’t seem to taste as eggy.
Love your blog!!
Thanks Christen! Happy to help!
– Joe
I can’t find the recipe! Link?
Ah, sorry about that. It’s in the left side menus under “Pastry”. But you can go right here as well:
http://www.joepastry.com/category/pastry/doughnuts/yeast-doughnuts/
Cheerio,
– Joe
Just an update to the existing post or is there a new post somewhere?
Hey Rob!
It is just an update on the existing post. Tweaked a bit to make them a little softer and fluffier!
Cheers,
– Joe
Hi Joe,
I have looked through a lot of raised doughnut recipes, and very few ever seem to use milk powder as an ingredient. I assume this is for the proteins, but how come you use it whereas other recipes don’t? Maybe delve into the science behind it?
Cheers!
Hey Rob!
Nice question. Milk powder does a few things in a baking application. As you point out it adds protein, and that along with the extra sugars can be handy in terms of getting a more golden finish. It also add flavor, another nice feature especially in fast rising breads like doughnuts and white loaves which tend to be bland because of the extra-quick yeast action. However the big benefit of dry milk is tenderness. The fats and the milk solids undermine gluten formation so the finished product is less rigid than it would otherwise be. That’s especially desirable in a raised doughnut since the crusts can come out of the oil rigid to the point that they shatter when you bite into them. The longer you let the doughnuts rest the softer the crusts get, but since I generally like to hand them around when they’re warm I go the tenderizer route.
Foiling the action of gluten has other benefits for doughnuts. If the dough isn’t terribly stretchy then the bubbles in it tend not to get very big. That’s good because a big open crumb can be a pain in the neck when you fry. The big open spaces can push the expanding doughnut out into weird shapes, or create giant open cells which can break open and fill with oil. Those big cells are also inconvenient if you’re filling your doughnuts with jam as all the filling tends to pool up in one place. So you see there are a lot of good reasons for milk powder in a doughnut dough.
I should add that the finer your milk powder the better as the solids and fats spread out more evenly through the dough. That translates to a finer structure that is at once more tender, fluffier AND stronger. King Arthur milk powder is especially fine and I heartily endorse it. Thanks again, Rob!