The Croissant Donut (or Cronut)
Degree of difficulty: hard (although it is mostly time consuming)
Preparation time: 6-8 hours
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients for the croissant dough:
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¼ oz (7 gm) of fresh yeast, or 1¼ teaspoon (6¼ ml/4 gm) of dry-active yeast (about ½ sachet)
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3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water (less than 100°F/38°C)
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1 teaspoon (5 ml/4½ gm) sugar
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1 3/4 cups (225 gm/½ lb) of strong plain flour (I used Polish all-purpose flour, which is 13% protein)
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2 teaspoons (10 ml/9 gm) sugar
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1½ teaspoon (7½ ml/9 gm) salt
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½ cup (120 ml/¼ pint) milk (I am not sure if the fat content matters. I used 2%)
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2 tablespoons (30 ml) tasteless oil (I used generic vegetable oil)
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½ cup (120 ml/1 stick/115 gm/¼ lb) chilled, unsalted butter
Creme patissiere filling
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Milk 325ml
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Eggs Yolks 85g
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Sugar 85g
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Cornflour 35g
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Butter 35g
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
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2 cups icing sugar, sifted
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1/4 cup milk
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Pink food colouring
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Cinnamon sugar
Step 1 - Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little. Measure out the other ingredients.
2 . Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar. Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated.
Step 3 - Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl.Knead the dough eight to ten times only by smacking the dough on the counter (lots of fun if you are mad at someone) and removing it from the counter using the pastry scraper. Place the dough back in the bowl, and place the bowl in the plastic bag or under some cling wrap. Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size.
Step 4 - Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square thats about half an inch thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.
Step 5 - Make the creme Patissiere. Place milk in a saucepan. Heat gently until the milk almost boils. Remove from the heat, whisk the yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl until thick and pale. Gradually whisk in the warm milk. Return mixture to same saucepan and stir over medium heat until the custard boils. Spread over a tray to cool rapidly. Cover the surface of the custard closely with plastic wrap to prevent a skin forming, at 55°C transfer to a bowl and stir through butter and refrigerate to cool completely. Spoon into a piping bag with a plain nozzle.
Step 6 - After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips. Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) and with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a large circle. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently.
Step 7 - Place the cold square of butter in the middle of the circle of dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; dont just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8? square.
Step 8 - Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24? (dont worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24?, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).
Step 9 - With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.
Step 10 - Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24? and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.
Step 11 - If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns youve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.
Step 12 - The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.
Step 13 - About an hour or two before you want to fry these, take the pastry out of the fridge and let it rest for 5 minutes. Roll out the pastry and using a large and a small round cutter, cut out donuts. Using a little water, adhere one on top of another and allow to rise for an hour or two. You can also fry the donut holes and I ended up filling them with the creme patissiere and rolled them in cinnamon sugar and they were absolutely delicious!!
Step 14 - Heat 2 litres of oil to 190C/374F. Carefully place the risen doughnuts in the oil being sure not to overcrowd them (I did two at a time) and cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes. Remove from oil carefully and place on a paper towel lined plate. Roll in cinnamon sugar immediately if you are doing cinnamon sugar donuts. Otherwise, allow to cool and then fill with the creme patissiere.
Step 15 - Cut three holes in the sides of the cronuts-I found it easiest in the centre where the two dough pieces were joined together with water before frying. Pipe custard into the cronut.
Step 16 - It is best to make the donut icing once the donuts are ready as it is quick to make but sets quickly. Sift the icing sugar into a small saucepan and add the milk and stir. If you're making lemon cronuts, dip them in as is and sprinkle with finely grated lemon zest on top. If you're making the pink donuts, add pink food colouring and then dip immediately into a bowl with the sprinkles. The icing sets quickly and if it starts to set, keep it on a low heat on the stove.