If your love language is doughnuts – these are the ones for you to try. Once you create these fluffy brioche doughnuts filled with vanilla rose pastry cream, you’ll never want to go back to the same old same old ever again. Treat your loved ones to these doughnuts this Valentine’s day for the ultimate treat!
Frying Doughnuts
There’s a number of things to keep in mind before you start the process of frying doughnuts…
Frying Oil
There are so many different kinds of oils on the market that you could grab and fry these doughnuts with. Personally, I’ve found that palm oil shortening has worked the best when frying these yeast-raised brioche doughnuts. It allows for the perfect crust and heats up incredibly quickly which I love when making numerous batches of doughnuts back to back.
Temperature
Make sure to consistently be checking your oil’s temperature! It can rise above the target temperature that you should be frying at quite quickly. It also will decrease in temperature after frying a batch of doughnuts. Between each batch of doughnuts, check the temperature of your oil before adding more dough to ensure even and consistent results.
Prepared Space
Before you start frying your doughnuts, it’s important to make sure that you have properly prepared your space so that your doughnuts are not overcooked! Make sure to have your thermometer close by to monitor the oil’s temperature, a plate lined with paper towels to place the fried doughnuts on, and your sugar coating ready as well.
The Beautiful World of Brioche
Brioche is known to be an enriched dough due to the amounts of both egg and butter that have been incorporated during the mixing process. It has an incredibly rich and tender crumb that allows for such versatility! Here are just a few of the many things that you can create utilizing brioche as the base:
- French Toast
- Hamburger & Hot Dog Buns
- Brioche Bread
- Laminated brioche
- Rolls
- Babka
Assembly & Pastry Cream Flavors
In order to finish off these doughnuts, fill up a piping bag with your vanilla rose pastry cream! Then, pierce the fried and sugared doughnut with the tip of your piping bag or a piping tip and fill the center of the doughnut with the pastry cream. Top with a few pieces of rose petals for the ultimate presentation!!
What’s so fun about this pastry cream recipe is that you are able to play with the flavor by omitting the rose flavoring and instead add another option. Throw in some plum puree, nectarine puree, or make an alternate infusion to make your own version of these brioche doughnuts!
Rose Garnish
Sprinkling a few rose petals on top of the pastry cream is a fun way to add a pop of color, texture, and aroma. In the past, I’ve purchased culinary safe dried rose petals in bulk at various spice markets throughout the city. You’ll most likely find rose petals in a similar bulk spice store in your hometown, otherwise or you can certainly buy dried rose petals online!
Helpful Equipment for Making Brioche Doughnuts
Brioche Doughnuts with Vanilla Rose Pastry Cream
Equipment
- Bowls
- Mixer with Paddle Attachment and Dough Hook
- Bench Scraper or Knife
- Tea Towel or Plastic Wrap
- Dutch Oven or Countertop Fryer
- Paper Towels
- Plate or Cooling Rack
- Saucepan
- Whisk
- Strainer
- Piping Tip & Bag
- Thermometer
- Slotted Spoon
Ingredients
Vanilla Rose Pastry Cream with White Chocolate
- 2 Cups (500 g) Whole Milk
- 1/4 Cup Dried Rose Petals
- 1/2 Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1/3 Cup (40 g) Corn starch
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1/4 Cup (56.75 g) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 Cup (33 g) White Chocolate, Melted
Brioche Doughnuts
- 3/4 Cup (175 g) Warm Water
- 1/4 Cup (50 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Active dry yeast
- 3 3/4 Cup (500 g) All-Purpose flour
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/3 Cup + 1 Tbsp (100 g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 2 liters Palm or Canola oil, for frying
- 1/2 Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar, for sugar coating
Instructions
BRIOCHE DOUGHNUTS
- Mix together the warm water, sugar and yeast together in your stand mixer’s mixing bowl. Let this mixture rest undisturbed for 5-10 minutes until you start to see bubbles start to form on the surface.
- Add your flour and eggs to the active yeast mixture using the paddle attachment. After one minute of mixing on medium speed, the ingredients should be well combined. At this point, switch to using the dough hook attachment and knead for 6-8 minutes before adding salt and butter one tablespoon at a time. Continue kneading with the dough hook for another 5-8 minutes until the dough looks smooth and glossy and you notice that the dough is not sticking to the sides of the bowl. This means that your dough has been well developed and we can stop mixing.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to proof for 1.5 to 2 hours covered in plastic wrap. You’re looking for the dough to have about doubled in size before moving onto the next step. If your kitchen tends to run quite cold, try to find a warm spot to leave the dough for this resting period. Then, remove the plastic wrap, and degas the dough by punching it down before recovering and placing in the fridge overnight. This overnight rest of about 12-14 hours is essential in order to develop flavor as the dough continues to ferment slowly within low temperatures.
- After the dough has rested overnight – it’s time to start shaping! Divide your dough using a sharp knife or a bunch scraper into 65 gram even pieces. Gently degas each piece by pressing on top of the ball with the heel of your hand before forming into a tight boule. Place each piece of dough onto a parchment lined baking tray that has been dusted with flour and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit undisturbed in a warm spot to proof until they have doubled in size for about 1.5-2 hours.
- Approximately twenty minutes before the doughnuts have finished their final proof, it’s time to start heating your frying oil! Grab a large Dutch oven or your preferred container for frying. Add the oil, ensuring that you have at least 3 inches of height from the bottom of the Dutch oven to the top of the oil. Turning the stove on medium high, heat the oil to 345° F.
- I always do a “test” doughnut before moving on to the remaining doughnuts. Fry the test doughnut for 2-3 minutes on each side before removing from the oil with a slotted spoon and placing on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Then, coat in sugar before letting cool completely. Continue this process by gently dropping four pieces of proofed dough into the oil at a time, making sure not to crowd the doughnuts too much! Make sure to check the temperature of the oil after each batch, in case you need to reheat the oil back to 345° F.
Vanilla Rose Pastry Cream with White Chocolate
- Next, onto the rose pastry cream! First off, we’re making the infused rose milk. Add milk to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add rose petals and stir, then let them sit with the top on the saucepan for 30 minutes so the milk has a chance to fully infuse. Then strain the milk back into a bowl discarding the rose petals.
- Whisk together the sugar, corn starch, milk, vanilla and salt in a saucepan. Whisk together the eggs in a separate bowl. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, then slowly pour the milk mixture into the eggs while whisking – this technique is called tempering.
- Return the mixture to your saucepan bringing to a boil again while constantly mixing. It should look a little lumpy and chunky at first – the pastry cream will become smooth momentarily as you continue to cook. Lower the heat and cook for one minute while whisking and cream becomes smooth. Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl before adding the softened butter, and white chocolate mixing so that it naturally incorporates due to the heat.
- Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic onto the top of the cream so that you do not get a skin.
- Place in the fridge where it will start to thicken and solidify a bit. Before using the pastry cream, whisk to ensure a smooth texture!
ASSEMBLING DOUGHNUTS
- Fill a piping bag with your rose pastry cream. Pierce the doughnut with the tip of the piping bag and fill the center of the doughnut with the rose cream. Enjoy!
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