The Technical Challenge for Week 7 was an 80’s themed challenge, Jam and Custard Doughnuts! This classic doughnut is found in so many British Bakeries. This was a great challenge to practice the bakers frying skills as you can easily over or under bake these doughnuts. Frying these in an electric deep fat fryer makes things a lot easier and will prevent this issue as the temperature is constantly regulated. The filling is a Crème Mousseline which is rich and creamy and to top it off these doughnuts are decorated line a line of strawberry jam to add a little bit of sweetness!
Ingredients:
Doughnut Dough:
250g Strong White Flour
125ml Milk (Warmed)
35g Soften Butter
25g Caster Sugar (+ Extra for dusting)
5g Fast Action Yeast
5g Salt
1 x Egg
Crème Mousseline:
250ml Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract/1 x Vanilla Bean
40g Caster Sugar
2 x Egg Yolk
15g Plain Flour
15g Cornflour
Pinch of Salt
40g Butter (Cut into Cubes and Chilled)
40g Soften Butter (Creamed)
Strawberry Jam:
100g Strawberries
100g Jam Sugar
1. To make the dough add the strong white flour, milk, caster sugar, yeast, salt and egg into a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients until you start to get a shaggy looking dough.
2. Knead the doughnut dough for about 5-8 minutes if you are using a stand mixer with a dough hook or for about 10-12 minutes if kneading by hand on a work surface dusted lightly with flour. You can tell the dough is fully kneaded when it is smooth, glossy and elastic.
3. Put the dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave the dough to prove for 45 minutes, until it has roughly doubled in size.
4. While the dough is proving to make the Strawberry Jam by chopping the strawberries into small chunks. Then add them into a pan along with the jam sugar.
5. Heat the ingredients on a medium. While the mixture is heating up crush the strawberries with a potato masher. Then increase the heat, keep on heating the mixture until it reaches 105C/221F on a sugar thermometer.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and sieve the mixture through a heatproof sieve to remove the seeds from the jam. Then leave the strawberry jam to cool and set.
7. To make the Crème Mousseline we need to make a Crème Patissiere. To do this place the milk and the vanilla extract/vanilla bean in the pan. Heat over a medium heat until it starts to simmer.
8. Next in another mixing bowl add the egg yolks, caster sugar, flour and cornflour. Whisk the ingredients together until they are evenly incorporated and are also paler in colour.
9. Once the milk has started to simmer remove it from the heat and slowly start to pour the milk over the egg yolk mixture while mixing. Make sure you add the milk slowly while whisking, this will help to prevent the egg yolks from scrambling.
10. Pour the Crème Patissiere mixture back into a pan. Heat over a medium heat while mixing until the Crème Patissiere continuously until it starts to thicken (this should take around 2-3 minutes and the mixture will start to “burp”).
11. Remove the Crème Patissiere from heat and add the cubed chilled butter. Mix until the butter has been incorporated. The Crème Patissiere should become glossier in appearance. Then leave the Crème Patissiere to cool.
12. Meanwhile, cream the extra butter so it becomes super smooth. When the Crème Patissiere has completed cooled add this creamed butter to the Crème Patissiere. Once fully incorporated the Crème Patissiere has now become a Crème Mousseline! Leave in the Crème Mousseline in the fridge to cool and thicken up.
13. Once the dough has proved place it onto a work surface that is lightly dusted with flour. Next, knock back the dough to remove any big air pockets a then divide the dough into 6 even portions (roughly 70g each).
14. Form the dough into a ball and then roll into a finger shape that is 15cm in length.
15. Place the 6 fingers onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or dusted in flour and leave to prove for 30 minutes.
16. Meanwhile, fill your deep fat fryer with vegetable oil and heat until the oil reaches 180C/350F.
17. Pour some caster sugar into another bowl pour, this will be used to dust your doughnut fingers.
18. Once the doughnut fingers have proved, fry them for 3 minutes on one side and then turn them and dry again for another 3 minutes. I find that frying them one at a time worked well for me because I had a small deep fat fryer. This stops the temperature of the oil from fluctuating.
19. Remove the doughnuts using a slotted spoon, and place them into the caster sugar. Coat both sides of the doughnut in the sugar. Place them onto a wire rack too cool.
20. Once the doughnuts have cooled, make a deep cut lengthways down the middle of the doughnut.
21. Remove the Crème Mousseline from the fridge and place it into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M Open Star Piping Tip. Pipe a line of the Crème Mousseline down the middle of the doughnut finger.
22. Finally, transfer the strawberry jam into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton No 1 Round Piping Tip and pipe a line over the middle of the Crème Mousseline.
