David Okamoto joins me to discuss chocolate production, the growing of the cocoa pods and the life cycle of the trees and a new chocolate in the market, Thai chocolate.
We cover many of the challenges bakers of all stripes face when handling chocolate, from how to prevent bloom, and what is it?, to tempering and what do the pros call real chocolate?
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Chocolate yeast-raised doughnuts are rare, but delicious.
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The rarest doughnut in any bakery is a yeast raised chocolate doughnut with chocolate icing. For real chocolate doughnuts. And I don’t mean just plain ole doughnuts with chocolate on top. Oh, no. These are for real chocolate dough doughnuts. And, Boy Howdy!, are they good.
Ingredients
Whole milk
All purpose flour
Bread flour
Cocoa powder
Instant yeast
Eggs
Egg yolk
Sugar
Salt
Nutmeg
Vanilla extract
Butter
Chocolate glaze
Bittersweet chocolate
Heavy cream
Substitutions
Dutch process cocoa is best for baking. If you can’t find it, regular cocoa is fine.
Whole milk does create the best mouthfeel, but any milk will work.
Both active dry and fresh yeast may be used in place of instant, but with this change. Double the grams of active dry yeast and triple the grams for fresh. The dough will also require the proving step common for yeasts of that style.
For the chocolate glaze, any sweetened chocolate will do.
Storing the chocolate doughnut dough
The dough will hold up a day, maybe two, covered and in the refrigerator. I would avoid freezing it. However, any scraps can be frozen and saved. Thaw them and add them to the next batch of chocolate doughnuts.
If you have leftover chocolate doughnuts, you need better friends. Turn the doughnuts into a chocolate bread pudding.
How to measure ingredients for chocolate doughnuts
Let’s talk for a brief moment about metric and English measurements. Commercial bakers use weight instead of volume because no one wants to measure 75 cups of flour. Too many ways for that to be incorrect. Weight is always right. 1 pound or 1 kilo or 1 ounce is always the same. Weighing ingredients has the happy advantage of being faster and, generally, more organized, which increases speed. Not often a major consideration at home, but in a bakery, that matters.
Some tools for doughnut making
For this recipe, a digital scale works best. They are more accurate than the spring style scales but by no means should you stop now if you haven’t a digital scale.
In addition to the ingredients for making the dough, you’ll need a tool called a spider (I like these bamboo handled kind; the handled doesn’t get hot) or at least a large slotted spoon, a sheet pan with a wire rack, a fryer or pot which is large enough to hold 4 inches of oil and not overflow the top, paper towels and a steady hand and a chop stick.
Rolling doughnuts
The dough is pretty soft, even when cold, but it does take some effort to get it thin enough. Granny’s rolling pin may not be up to scratch.
A French pin, basically a stick, but nicer, works. For doughnuts, and croissants and puff pastry, I prefer a pastry pin. It is long enough and heavy enough to help do some of the work for you.
Frying your doughnuts
The tell-tale sign that a doughnut is done is the golden brown color. Chocolate doughnuts are a bit trickier since that golden color is hidden by the dark color of the doughnut.
Take a close look and you’ll see there is a crust building on the fried side. Also, the doughnut will rise and spring up while it’s in the oil. Time is tough to know, but a couple of minutes is a good time to start checking the underside.
Flip your doughnuts
Wood tools are well suited for fryers. One, they don’t get hot like metal does and, two, the food won’t stick to the dowel like it can stick to metal. A wooden skewer or a 1/4″ piece of dowel about a foot long is a perfect tool to turn your doughnuts. Use the spider to lift them out of the fat.
55gCocoa powder, Dutch Process if possible1.95 ounces
2gFreshly grated nutmeg
8gInstant yeastBread machine yeast
2eachEggs
1eachEgg yolk
226gSugar8 ounces
6gSalt1.5 teaspoons
8gVanilla extract1 teaspoon
74gButter, room temperature, diced2.5 ounces
Chocolate Glaze
8ozBittersweet chocolate72-85%
8ozHeavy cream
Instructions
Mix the doughnut dough
Combine all dry except butter into a mixing bowl. Butter the inside of a stainless steel bowl for holding the doughnut dough.
In the mixing bowl to a stand mixer, add the milk, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, mix to combine. When dough starts to come together, add butter.
Store the prepared dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour before rolling and cutting.
When half an hour remains, heat the fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You may fry on the stove top, but please use caution. If you do not have a trustworthy fryer thermometer, I would suggest you wait on doughnuts until you purchase one. Hot fat on an open flame or heating element is no place to be risky.
Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick (If they are too thick, they may be doughy and gummy inside because there is too much dough to properly fry). Using a doughnut cutter or a large and small ring cutter (in truth, you need not make a hole. It's a nice snack, but a doughnut without a hole is just waiting to become a Bismarck). Place the cut doughs on a separate lightly floured pan, leaving two inches between doughs. Place the doughs in a slightly warm, moist part of the kitchen. If need be, you may lightly spray the tops of the doughs with a spray release and cover them lightly with plastic film. They need to proof, that is, allow the yeast to do its job. When the doughs are twice the size they were, remove them and take the pan to the fry area.
The fryer should be at the proper temperature of 350 degrees. However you are frying the doughnuts, it is important that you only fry two or three at a time. Too many in the fryer makes the temperature drop too far and the loveliness you have worked to create will be lost to under-fried gooey globs of dough.
Place a doughnut on the spider or slotted spoon and gently lower it into the fat. I use my bare hand and hold the doughnut by one side, allowing it to hang vertically for a moment. I place the lower portion of the dough into the fat and gently release so I do not get splashed with hot fat. The doughnuts will float and puff almost immediately. Use the chop stick to reach under the doughnut and gently turn it over. Since these are chocolate doughnuts, determining golden brown is tough. My doughnut frying practice is allow a moment or two more than you think necessary because a crunchy outside on a doughnut is worth the effort.
Once they are done, remove them with the spider or slotted spoon to the sheet pan lined with the draining rack. If you have not a draining rack, ample paper towels will work. They are delicious (and HOT) as they are or with powdered sugar or a chocolate glaze.
Make Chocolate Glaze
Place the broken or cut pieces of chocolate into a stainless steel bowl.
Bring the milk to just the boil stage. Turn off the heat and pour the milk over the chocolate. Immediately, and slowly, whisk the two together. At first you will be sure you've failed for it looks a right mess. Worry not and press on. The chocolate will melt and absorb all the cream and make a lovely breakfast item on its own. When it cools slightly, carefully dip the top of the doughnut into the ganache, return the doughnut to the sheet pan and garnish with sprinkles or chopped peanuts or your favorite doughnut topping. Don't wait; as the ganache cools further, it looses is stickiness.
Recipe Notes
A note or two: this recipe is easily scalable so if you have no need for a pint of ganache, reduce the portions by half. Ganache will keep in the refrigerator a week (as if). Point two: liquid dairy, milk, half and half, cream, boil and bubble when they boil and make a great mess. Do not walk away from dairy set to boil. It is a mess, trust me.
I hope you enjoy them. For organizational purposes, it is possible to make the dough for use tomorrow. Simply shape it into a disk shape, wrap well in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Allow it about 10 minutes on the counter before you start rolling.
