Doughnut Diaries: Fail-nuts

When I wrote my introduction post a few weeks back I mentioned two things; that I love doughnuts and hope to find the holy grail of recipes (for both cake and yeast based doughnuts), and that I would share my fails with you.

So today I humbly invite you to share and giggle through some experimentation I attempted on my quest to doughnut glory.

Often I set out to bake with plenty of confidence. Baking is something I have always enjoyed, and have been rather successful in. So a weekend or two ago, as I set out to bake as per usual, spatula in hand like I was about to conquer some great floury feat, I had no idea of the slice of humble pie I was about to be served.

Lets be frank here, sometimes what starts out as a friendly cake doughnut recipe, actually rapidly evolves in to what I shall now term 'Fail Nuts'.
And we are talking so many fail nuts. Serial fail nuts all over my kitchen. On every surface.
This is what happens sometimes when you get cocky and push the recipe too far.

I had managed to create my near perfect cake doughnut recipe for deep frying, but the oil based cooking method still bugged me. So baking experiments started in the hope to eradicate this, and that is really where all the trouble began...

I have always been annoyed by many cake doughnut recipes requiring a specialized doughnut mold if you want to bake them instead of deep frying. I turn my nose up often at specialized 'one use' kitchen things as they take up space and rarely get used. But after the fail nuts, my opinion may be beginning to shift...

I just have a simple dream, to bake the cake doughnuts, not fry them. And without the aid of a doughnut mold. But I still want to achieve the quintessential doughnut hole 'look' in my doughnuts. You know, not picky or anything.

I also thought I would just flag adhering to the 'egg yolks' required of the recipe and just throw the whole egg in. Naive.

The above picture is my altered recipe simply baked until golden, rather than deep fried.
Result: Bready as heck, dense, chewy (not in a pleasant way), and all round unpleasant on the mouth feel front. The shape displeased me as the hole disappeared almost entirely. Definitely no improvement gained when a simple glaze icing was applied.

Then genius struck me! WHAT IF I TREAT THEM LIKE BAGELS!!! I swore I was onto a good thing here. I took my altered dough, and boiled the doughnut for a few minutes each side. The hole closed up and I was sad (see below). I then baked it until golden.

Result: Shinier exterior, but inside was just as bready, just as unpleasant.

I decided the original recipe was a better idea, so I remade the dough. I also decided that keeping the doughnut hole look was of paramount importance (#dreambigdreams), so I persevered with the bagel method and boiled the doughnut for longer, sealing in the shape.

Success on the hole keeping! I then baked the doughnut until golden.
Result: Nope. Just the same as the other two. Just better on the shape side of things.

Sigh. Below shows where I tried to selvage them with glaze icing. Do not be fooled, they are doughnuts of disappointment and lies. I had two flatmates try them, both took one bite and left the rest back on the tray. FAIL.

So I had all these fail nuts left, as I had had lots of the dough from the wrong recipe leftover. So I figured I better try and resurrect the situation somehow so as not to waste all the ingredients.

I introduce you to one of the most heinous desserts I have ever made; The Bread and Butter Fail Nut Pudding Of Despair.

Oh she might look pretty with her mixed berries and custard, but don't let her fool you. She is actually just a really big helping of fail nut amalgamation.

Sometimes you just need to let it die. So I did. The whole lot ended up in the bin, along with the untouched glazed fail nuts.

At least I got to try out styling with my Citta cork place mats. Look, arty:

On reflection of the methods I have tried, and with the help of feedback from many friends, I have determined the following:

- The recipe should stay as yolks only.
- Baking the doughnuts with the current recipe and method is potentially overcooking the dough (hence the bready result).
- Never try to selvage a fail nut, they are not to be toyed with.
- If I want to bake the doughnuts, I may need a new recipe altogether.

Things I think I will try in my next experimentation session:

- A higher oil temperature to avoid excess oil absorption.
- Adding apple cider vinegar to the dough to encourage oil repelling.
- Baking the dough nuts at a higher temperature for less time.
- Creating a new cake doughnut recipe that is oven friendly.

If you have any ideas of what you think I could try, feel free to comment below or get in touch with me. I still believe we can get there! And then it will be all sitting-back-with-our-doughnuts-on-the-veranda-in-the-late-afternoon-as-the-sun-goes-down*, like it was never an effort at all.


*Don't have a veranda? Me neither.