Chocolate Pistachio Doughnuts

Does a raised doughnut count as bread? Discuss. # 157: Chocolate Pistachio Doughnuts

Do you have a favorite doughnut? That particular one that you always dive for when they open that pink pastry box? Mine will always for forever be chocolate old-fashioned. My mom’s would probably be a classic raised doughnut covered in sugar. These chocolate pistachio poofs are a mixture of the two: yeasted dough that’s fried til puffed with a rich chocolate ganache on top.

I made some filled and some with holes just for fun, and due to a slight dough mishap, they weren’t as light and airy as I had hoped. Adding a citrus whipped cream filling brought them closer to the fluffy doughnut I was aiming for!

You know the phrase “your eyes were bigger than your stomach”? There should also be a version of it for attempts at over-ambitious morning bakes. I was moving so quickly to make the dough at 7am so it would proof while I was at my workout class that I added an extra egg! Shame on both my houses. The issue resolved itself by adding in about a half cup of extra cake flour, but I’ll obviously have to make then again with the correct proportions to see the differences. Darn, more doughnuts…

Despite the fact that they are yeasted, methinks we have to put raised doughnut firmly in the pastry camp. While there are similarities in the prepping process to bread, the protein content of the flour is really the kicker. Bread flour has a higher protein content (hence why the British call it “strong” – incredibly accurate and kind of adorable) than regular flour. Pastry/cake flour has an even smaller protein content, with added corn starch to inhibit some of the gluten formation, helping to give the final baked good a tender crumb. This recipe called for kneading the dough to build a little bit of gluten structure, but since I used pastry flour there wasn’t the danger of the doughnuts becoming super tough and chewy.

Nutmeg strikes again! Same as with my favorite cocoa old-fashioned doughnuts, nutmeg is the secret ingredient that has me reaching for my fourth doughnut in a row. These had a little cinnamon as well for a tiny bit of spice warmth.

While I felt like a boss with my one-handed egg cracking, this was the moment of my dough fail. I halved the whole recipe except for the eggs, essentially doubling the moisture of the dough in one fell swoop. When you halve a recipe, be like Santa. Make your list and check it twice!!

Saved with some extra flour and ready for it’s nap.

Rollin’ with my doughbies..

I couldn’t decide between filled doughnuts and ring ones, so decided to do a lil of both.

Prepped and waiting for their oil hottub to heat up.

Aww yeahh. (Also remember to open the window and turn on the oven fan unless you want your apartment to small like oil for 2 days.)

Whipped up the last of my frozen passionfruit curd with some heavy cream to make a bright filling. Piping filling is so satisfying – you can feel the doughnut getting heavier as you go!