gastrobuddy: Recipe: Buttermilk doughnuts (orange)

mix the wet dough

I've heard that doughnuts are one of the Canadian stereotypes. I like them, but again there's not that many people who don't at least occasionally indulge, so why are they trying to pin it on us? No matter, might as well be known for things people like. I live a short ferry ride away from the birthplace of Nanaimo bars - I'm going to be proud of that too, so there.

Back to doughnuts. When I went about sourcing out a recipe, I wanted to find a really good base recipe that would act as a go-to and would adapt itself to whatever glazes or toppings you wanted to throw at it. I definitely wanted a yeast dough. Doughnut doughs made with only baking powder are not doughnuts at all, they are bannock. Now bannock, the First Nations style, is definitely Canadian, and it's wonderfully delicious, but that's not what we're making today. Set on a yeast dough then, I thought about what angle should be taken, and buttermilk came right to my mind - nothing too wacky, but certainly an upgrade from a plain white dough.

add flour and bring it together

I got my hands on a good recipe - actually, for those Vancouverites, after a dusting of cinnamon sugar, these are dead ringers for "those little doughnuts" you get at the PNE. Now I considered if there was any way it could be better. There was shortening involved - I could switch in with butter. Butter is almost always a better way to go, and it is a buttermilk dough, so what's a little more butter? I then used warm milk insead of water to bloom the yeast - the logic? Simple, milk tastes better than water. Next, I stumbled upon the idea of adding a bit of orange zest to the dough. The effect is superb. The citrus helps cut through the fat of the buttermilk, butter and the frying process to lighten up the flavour. It's not that the orange is overpowering either, it just rests quietly in the background. I list the zest here as an optional ingredient, but I'll be including it whenever I make these.

roll

Since this is a proper dough, you can get away with a gentle re-roll of the scraps. You should get about 22 to 24 medium sized doughnuts from this recipe. I'm quite happy just dusting these with a bit of sugar after cooking, so as yet haven't played around with too many icing varieties.

You will need:

10g / 1Tbs                     active dry yeast
125ml / 1/2C                 milk
125ml / 1/2C                 buttermilk
43g / 45ml / 3Tbs          butter

cut

39g / 45ml / 3Tbs          sugar
310-375g / 2.5-3C         all purpose flour
12g / 15ml / 1Tbs          baking powder
5ml / 1tsp                      salt
2                                    orange zest (microplane) (optional)

Method:

- gently warm the milk up to just above room temperature
- add the yeast to the milk with a bit of the sugar and let it bloom for 5 to 10 minutes

proofed

- if adding zest, zest the oranges and mix the zest with the sugar
- melt the butter and set aside
- put 375ml / 1.5C of the flour in a mixing bowl with the yeast and milk
- add the buttermilk, butter, sugar (and zest) and salt and mix well with a dough hook
- add just enough flour to make a soft dough
- turn out onto a floured table and knead a few times
- roll about 1.5cm / 1/2" thick
- cut out the doughnuts, lay on floured paper, and cover with plastic to proof
- re-roll the scraps, cut more doughnuts, and add to the others
- once the doughnuts are well proofed (double the size), fry in oil at 375F / 191C
- turn to colour evenly
- drain on paper towel