60 | March 2013 www.womanthismonth.com l Remove the dough to a floured bench top and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add more flour. l Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 hour. l Punch the dough down and knead again lightly. l Roll the dough to about 2cm in thickness on a floured board and cut out doughnuts with a 7cm round cutter. l Use a smaller cutter to cut out the centre. l Place the doughnuts onto a lightly floured tray and cover. Allow it to rise for 45 minutes. l To fry the doughnuts heat the oil to 180 degrees Celsius. Use a deep saucepan to heat the oil, which allows for them to be flipped easily. l Test a small piece of dough first before frying the whole batch. l Carefully place the doughnuts in the oil. Do not overfill the pan for safety. l Cook on each side for about one minute and when golden brown flip the doughnuts with a fork. l Remove from the oil and place on kitchen towel to drain. l For the cinnamon sugar coated kind, roll the warm freshly fried doughnuts in a mixture of cinnamon and caster sugar immediately after frying. For glazed doughnuts, allow them to cool for 1-2 minutes before dipping in the prepared glaze and setting on a wire rack to drain. Allow it to cool; serve. To make the glaze: l Melt the butter and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. l Add milk until desired consistency is reached. l Glaze should coat the back of a spoon and not be too thin. Food Yeast Raised Doughnuts Hole in One Of current sweet trends, the French macaron is one of the biggest although by the time they entered the mainstream, they had already been well-liked in Europe for a good decade and beyond. The USA claims prize of course for the cupcake. Its hype started when Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw made Magnolia Bakery famous in the late ‘90s. Today the cupcake and its successor the whoopie pie are both slowly waning in popularity due to overexposure. These days, desserts of the Far and Middle East are gaining worldwide recognition as traditions are reinvented for a more modern and global marketplace. Éclairs and all things made of choux pastry have seen resurgence due to the creative talents of some of France’s best pastry chefs turning it into both sweet and savoury concoctions. Delicacies such as the religieuse, St Honoré and profiteroles have simply been made to perfection thus elevating them to new heights in the culinary world. Doughnuts too, although never unpopular, are regaining strength and popularity with a wider and more sophisticated palate by being reinvented into more complex and creative flavour combinations. With a disputed history doughnuts, although considered American, are most probably descendants of the Dutch settlers’ early oil cake recipes. This month I offer both sweet and savoury varieties of this globally loved treat. New trends are born from the talents and imaginations of chefs like yourself. So be creative, get in the kitchen and play. In food, even mistakes taste great and you may end up creating the next trend. We’ve all been there… that moment when sinking your teeth into a delicious doughnut seems to be just what the doctor ordered. You can’t go wrong with sweet, deep-fried dough, so here are a few recipes for some of the best homemade delicacies. By James Claire 20g yeast, dried 130ml water, warm 500ml milk, warm 175g caster sugar 1 tspn salt 3 eggs 120g unsalted butter, melted 950g plain (all-purpose) flour for frying oil For the glaze: 120g unsalted butter 375g icing (powdered) sugar 10ml vanilla extract 100ml milk, room temperature l In a small bowl mix together the warm water, warm milk and the dried yeast. Mix to dissolve the yeast. l Place the bowl in a warm area, covered, until the mix begins to froth and rise. This should take about 40 minutes. l In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, salt, eggs, melted butter, sifted flour and the yeast mixture. l Use the tips of your fingers to start mixing and then gradually combine all the ingredients to form the dough.
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