Another old-school bakery vibe classic, but done so much better!

Words: Extracted from Mint Cakery by Michelle Morfett

The best thing about doughnuts is that everyone loves them. After a lot of trial and error over the years making doughnuts, we have the perfect dough recipe. This is best done in a stand mixer (with a paddle attachment) and is a two-day process – you need to make the dough the day before you fry and eat them.

Makes: 16 doughnuts
Prep time: 2 hours (including proving)

INGREDIENTS

Donut dough:
75g caster sugar
250ml warm water
12g yeast
750g plain flour
30ml white rum or vodka
4 eggs
12g salt
150g unsalted butter, softened

For frying:
flour for dusting
canola oil for shallow frying (enough so the doughnuts don’t touch the bottom of the pot; they have to float and dance)

Chantilly cream:
500ml cream
30g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
freeze-dried raspberries, to garnish
icing sugar, to dust

METHOD

Put caster sugar, warm water and yeast into a stainless steel bowl and leave to sit in a warm place until the yeast has just started to activate and foam. This will take about 15 minutes.

Sift the flour into the bowl of your stand mixer, then add yeast mixture, rum and eggs. Knead with the dough hook attachment for 5 minutes.

Add salt and softened butter to the mixer bowl and knead for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally until the butter is fully incorporated.

Once the dough has finished mixing, spray the inside of the bowl with oil so the dough can rise up the bowl easily and cover the top with cling film.

Leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size and is nearly touching the cling film. This will take about an hour.

Knock the dough back with a plastic dough scraper or spatula. Tip into a container that is twice the size of the dough. Place cling film over the top of the dough, then put the lid on the container and place your dough in the fridge overnight.

Take your time to weigh and measure each doughnut; if you want them all to look the same when they have been fried, this step is crucial. You will need a candy thermometer to test the temperature of the hot oil if you are using a large pot instead of a fryer.

Lightly flour your kitchen bench and tip out the doughnut dough. Use a rolling pin and roll into a 200mm x 300mm rectangle. Try and keep the edges nice and square. Use your hands to reshape the corners in between rolling. The dough will be about 25mm thick; always use a tape measure!

Cut the doughnut dough you have rolled out lengthwise so you have two long strips.

Cut each long strip into 8, so you have 16 long doughnuts in total.

Line two flat oven trays with baking paper and spray with oil.

Place your doughnuts onto the two trays, ensuring they have room to nearly double in size and still not touch.

Spray oil over the top of the doughnuts and cover the tray with cling film.

Make sure the cling film isn’t too tight over the top of the dough as they need room to grow and prove.

Leave to rise in a warm spot for 45–60 minutes, or until they have nearly doubled in size but still hold their shape well.

Halfway through proving your dough, turn your fryer on to 180°C. If you are using a pot of oil, heat the oil on medium and use a candy thermometer to get the temperature to 180°C.

One by one, gently place each doughnut into the hot oil, making sure you move your hand away from you rather towards yourself when the dough hits the oil to avoid getting splashed. Make sure you leave enough space in the oil between the doughnuts so they have room to grow in size.

• Long doughnuts fry for 1 minute 30 seconds on each side.

Remove doughnuts from the hot oil with tongs and drain on a wire rack. Leave to cool down completely before decorating.

Use a serrated knife and cut down the centre of each doughnut, slicing two-thirds of the way through.

Slightly open the cut in the doughnut with your hands and pipe a line of raspberry coulis along the bottom of the doughnut, reserving some for finishing.

Whip your cream, icing sugar and vanilla together. Use a star-tip nozzle on your piping bag to pipe cream on top of the raspberry coulis.

Dust the doughnuts with icing sugar.

Place a spoonful of the raspberry coulis into the centre of the cream and scatter freeze-dried raspberries over the cream.

Best served immediately.

Baker’s tip: You need the cream to be whipped up enough to hold its shape in the doughnut. It’s a fine line from perfect to overwhipped, so watch it like a hawk! You should be able to lift the whipped cream with a spatula, and it won’t collapse on itself.

Raspberry Coulis

I reckon frozen raspberries are better than fresh ones – they have so much flavour! We like our coulis quite tart but if you want it sweeter, add a touch more sugar. A good reminder to always taste your baking as you go so you can get it just right.

INGREDIENTS

500g frozen raspberries
120g caster sugar
20g cornflour
50ml cold water

METHOD

Heat the raspberries and sugar together in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it has just come to a boil, give it a taste to see if there is enough sugar for your liking and adjust accordingly.

Mix the cornflour with the cold water to make a slurry and stir into the raspberries. Cook until the cloudiness of the cornflour goes away; it will only take a minute or so.

Pour into a container and pop into the fridge to cool. Once cold, it is ready to use!

Store in the fridge for up to a week.

Baker’s tip: Make sure you are continuously stirring the pot when you add the cornflour water slurry. If you tip it in and then stir afterwards you will get lumps of cornflour through the coulis.

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Mint Cakery by Michelle Morfett, photography by Manja Wachsmuth, published by Mint Cakery, distributed by Bateman Books, RRP $45, Release Date July 2023.