Juliet Sear's delicious doughnuts
Juliet Sear's in the kitchen with another cook-a-long, as she shows us how to make her delicious baked doughnuts. But we're not the only ones joining in - after six months apart, Juliet's son, George will be surprising her live from LA too!
Makes 10/11 letters, depending on size
Ingredients
For the doughnut dough
250g white bread flour (all flours vary if you use very strong bread flour this is good but if the dough is sticky you will need to add a little extra flour until the dough is not sticky
Pinch of salt
25g caster sugar
11g fast action yeast (I used a timesaver yeast sachet)
50g unsalted butter
100ml whole milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 medium egg
For the brushing when baked
30g melted butter
80g white caster sugar
Chocolate glaze ingredients
40g butter
120g plain chocolate chips
20g golden syrup
1 tbsp water (or dads fave tipple if you prefer, rum or whisky is nice!)
Sprinkles - to decorate
Method
1. In a stand mixer with dough hook attachment combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. (if you don’t have a stand mixer you can do this by hand but will take much longer)
2. In a small pan slowly melt the butter into the milk with the vanilla, do not let mixture get too hot it should be warm to touch
3. With the mixer on a slow speed slowly pour the milk butter and egg mix into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients until it comes together. (Add extra flour if it’s a bit sticky it depends on the brand of flour you have)
4. Let the mixer knead the dough for 4-5 mins until it looks smooth and has formed a ball
5. Leave the dough in a lightly buttered bowl covered with a damp tea towel in a warm place until doubled in size, (this can take between 45 minutes and 2 hours depending on the type of yeast you use.)
6. Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper and lightly oil these and place to one side
7. Tip out the dough and knead a little by hand to knock back and then use a little flour and roll the dough out to about 1.5-2cms thickness using a rolling pin and cut out your chosen shapes or letters
8. Place on the baking trays making sure to leave plenty of room in between each doughnut as they will puff up a bit when rising and also during the bake
9. Before putting in the oven, cover the trays with a damp tea towel or lightly oiled cling film and leave for 30-40 mins until they have almost doubled in size
10. Once they have doubled in size bake at 160 degrees for 12-15 mins until dark golden and cooked through
11. Remove from the oven and whilst still warm brush each doughnut in the melted butter and then roll in white caster sugar. I used a small shallow bowl so I could dredge them in the sugar.
12. If you wish to glaze, heat all the glaze ingredients in a small pan on a very gentle low heat, stirring well until everything is shiny and smooth. Place in a shallow bowl wide enough to accommodate your largest donut and tip each one in, holding flat to glaze the top of each donut. Add sprinkles if you wish while the glaze is wet.