For weeks I’ve been craving Krispy Kremes, those with custard and chocolate. Fortunately the nearest place we can get them is Tesco in Ch’ham, close to exactly nowhere, plus they’re quite expensive. So I thought maybe it is time for me to learn to make yeasty dough ( ciasto drozdzowe), as every respectable Polish cook/baker must have it in their repertoire. My Mum makes it well, but she makes it  in a traditional way, kneading by hand. I have a Kitchen Aid, so don’t have to, the hook does all the job.

The recipe I picked is again from the excellent mojewypieki.com, Dorota’s oldest and most trusted doughnuts recipe. Hers was for 40 pieces, I used a third and still managed to make 17. I gave a few to Keeva the neighbour, when passing on her parcels, we’d never manage to eat them all and her daughters like doughnuts, so- nothing wasted and good neighbourly relationship sustained.

I used 333 g of plain flour, 17 g of fresh yeast, 40 g of sugar, 170 ml of milk, 2 egg yolks, 33 g of melted butter, a splash of whisky ( that prevents the dough from taking in too much fat when frying), a zest from half a lemon and a pinch of salt. First I made zaczyn out of some of the flour, all the yeast, some warm milk and some sugar- all those from the ready weighed ingredients, nothing extra. Mixed it all and left covered for about 20 minutes until frothed up, yeasties have been busy. 🙂 Added that to the rest of the ingredients waiting in the bowl of KA, attached the hook and let it roll for about 12 minutes. Then covered and left in a warm place for 1,5 hour, until more than doubled in size. Then knocked it down, formed small doughnuts with a cookie cutter- I didn’t want the giant ones, was also worried if they’d cook. Then again left them to prove till doubled in size and proceeded to fry them in veg oil heated up to 175 degrees. It’s a quick process and very enjoyable, as the beauties were very light and nicely risen, I only used a little skewer to flip them.

The only jam I had was  a strawberry one, next time I’ll use either raspberry or maybe some lemon curd, I’m thinking, either way will be investing in a proper syringe to stuff them with. One day I’ll use custard and that will be tricky to pour into the doughnuts.

Final touch was a bit of maple glaze and they were ready. I was super happy when I cut through the first one, it was like a cloud. Dorota woman is a genius. Craving satisfied. 🙂