Black Doris + Cardamom Doughnuts

Fluffy brioche style doughnuts filled with gloriously dark plum jam and rolled in cardamom sugar.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300 grams) bread flour
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (150 mls) warm full fat milk
• 1 teaspoon active dried yeast
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons (40 grams) soft unsalted butter, diced

For the Black Doris filling:

• 200 grams pitted black doris plums (about 4-5)
• 1/2 cup (120 mls) water
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar

For the cardamom sugar:

• 1/2 cup (100 grams) caster (superfine) sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients – 

Equipment:

• Large heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole + canola oil for frying
• Paper towels + slotted spoon
• Candy thermometer
• Small saucepan + stick blender (to make the jam)
• Piping bag + plain or long thin filling tip (Bismarck #230)
• Bowls + spoons

Directions:

First up is making the dough. Measure the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and mix well.

Add a pinch of sugar to the milk and sprinkle over the yeast. Leave it to get foamy – about 10 minutes.

Whisk the egg into the milk with a fork and add all the liquid to the dry ingredients.

Mix to form a dough.

Turn the dough out onto the bench and knead until smooth and elastic – about 7 to 8 minutes. Don’t be tempted to add extra flour. It will be sticky and rough looking to begin with but will become smooth as you knead.

Once the dough is smooth add half the butter.

Knead until the butter is incorporated. It will be slimy then sticky and it will finally come together. Don’t panic when it looks like this – just keep going.

When the butter is incorporated repeat with the remaining butter. It will be even stickier this time but stick with it. Voila.

Pop the dough back into the bowl, cover and leave until doubled in size – about 1 hour.

While this is happening make your jam. Dice the plums into a small saucepan and add the water and lemon juice.

Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the plums are soft. Turn of the heat and use a stick blender to pulverise the plum pieces.

Add the sugar and return the pot to the heat.

Cook over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved then over a medium heat until a drop of the jam on a cold plate wrinkles when you push your finger through it or it reaches 104.5C.

Transfer the jam to a heatproof bowl and set aside to cool.

Turn the dough out and divide into 12 even pieces. Form each into a ball and place on a small piece of baking paper.

After about 10 minutes flatten them slightly with your palm then leave until they are doubled in size.

When the doughnuts are just about ready put your oil on to heat. The oil needs to be at 175C (350F). Set out paper towels on a wire rack ready to drain the doughnuts.

When you are ready to fry, cook 3 to 4 doughnuts at a time for 1 + 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side until dark golden.

Scoop out and drain on the paper towels while you are frying the rest. Keep an eye on your oil temperature and adjust the burners as you need to.

Mix the sugar and cardamom together in a shallow bowl. Roll each doughnut in the sugar until it is well covered and then transfer to clean paper towels to cool completely.

When the doughnuts are cool fill a piping bag with the jam and fill each with a small amount. This is easiest using a coupler and a filling tip. Secure your bag of jam with a rubber band so it doesn’t dribble down your arm as you squeeze. You need to impale each doughnut on the tip then invert the bag and squeeze gently until you can feel the doughnut swell slightly.

It’s very easy to overfill them until you’ve had some practice so don’t worry if there is some oozy jam here and there. There is more jam than you need because it’s hard to make a smaller amount. I’m sure you can find a lonely piece of toast to use it up on..

Now you just eat them really…

Cook’s Notes:

• If you can’t find Black Doris plums or aren’t keen to make the jam yourself use a good quality store bought jam – it needs to be fairly smooth so it can be piped into the doughnuts.
• Always take care when frying – make sure there are no kids running around and you have everything you need ready to hand.
• When you fryer oil is cold again taste it to see if it’s still fresh and pour it back into the bottle it was in using a funnel. Try not to pour any bits of debris back into the bottle. If it’s still good then keep it in a cool dark place until you’re ready to dry again. If it’s off then carefully dispose of it with your trash – never put oil down your sink.

 – These doughnuts are the best the day they are made but are still good the next day – 

© 2017 The Winsome Baker. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.