OCTOBER DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE: Let's Go Nuts for Doughnuts!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I will only be providing the Alton Brown ones since that's the only one I've tried (so far). They are soooooo wet, I mean the dough prior to fry, making it almost impossible to handle keeping it's shape after you cut them. So be ware!



Equipment required:

• A Dutch oven or deep skillet (I prefer using a Dutch oven to reduce splatter)
• Deep fry thermometer, candy thermometer or any thermometer that will withstand and measure temperatures of up to 380 degrees
• Metal slotted spoon, metal slotted spatula or tongs (do NOT use plastic - it will melt!)
• Cookie sheets or a wire rack lined with paper towels to allow doughnuts to drain
• Electric hand mixer or stand mixer, or a bowl and a spoon if you are able to utilize a lot of elbow grease
• Doughnut or biscuit cutters or you can use a glass and a piping tip for the center
• Pastry bag (if you choose to make Bomboloni or any filled doughnut) or a squeeze bottle with a good tip that will poke a hole in your Bomboloni. Another way to fill a doughnut is to use the tip of a sharp knife to poke a hole in the doughnut and then use a ziplock bag filled with filling and cut on one corner to fill the doughnut.

Yeast Doughnuts:
Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes
Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size
Ingredients
Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz (less if to be slow rosen in refrigerator)
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ½ cup / 120 ml / 110 gm / 4 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Directions:
1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over mediuhm heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7. Transfer (pour) the sticky doughs to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.  *note that if you want you could refrigerate til up to 4 days at this point and let it slow rise in the refrigerator taking away a teaspoon of yeast for every day that it is to be refrigerated.

8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes. I cut mine with cookie cutter for the baked ones and just roughly rolled the ones that were to be fried.

10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

Served the fried doughtnut with jam, sausage and stir-fried eggs for breakfast.

**These doughnuts keeps well frozen if you've baked or fried too many. Just ziplock them right after cooled, throw in freezer. They stay very fresh for up to 3 days (that's how long they lasted in my family).

Daring Cook's October, 2010 Challange: Stuffed Grape (Cabbage) Leaves

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.



The challenge this month is to make a filling and roll it in grape leaves. If grape leaves are unavailable to you then you can use Swiss chard, kale, cabbage or some tough green. Even though I am living in the land of wineries, it is not easy to get grape leaves (all the vineyards are closed now that it's not the season). So, I've substituted it with cabbage leaves which can be found all year round.


Preparation time: The recipe will take up to 2 hours, depending on how fast you roll. You can freeze them before boiling if you want to try to do half of the recipe ahead of time. It only took me 1 hour including soaking of rice AND boiling water for softening the leaves.

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Ground Meat and Rice with Apricot Tamarind Sauce/ Yebra
Adapted from Aromas of Aleppo by Poopa Dweck and Michael J. Cohen. Published by Harper Collins, 2007
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients for hashu/filling:
1 pound (455 gm) ground (minced) beef
1/3 cup (80 ml) (2 1/3 oz) (65 gm) short grain rice
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) all spice
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) cinnamon
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) kosher (coarse) salt **if using regular table salt only use ½ tsp.**
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) white pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 cup (5½ oz) (150 gm) pine nuts **optional, I used chopped walnuts**
Directions:
1.Soak rice in water, enough to cover, for 30 minutes. Combine meat, rice, allspice, vegetable oil, cinnamon, salt, white pepper, and if desired, onion and pine nuts, in a large mixing bowl. Mix well.

Ingredients for assembly:
1 pound (455 gm) hashu/filling (see recipe above)
36 preserved grape leaves, stems trimmed, drained, rinsed and patted dry
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
6 dried apricots – or more if you desire (I used tomatoes instead)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) tamarind concentrate **if you can’t find it, you can omit it**
¼ cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (9 gm) kosher (coarse) salt **if using regular table salt only use 1.5 tsp.**
Notes:
If using grape leaves preserved in brine, to remove salt put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Make sure that the water penetrates well between the layers, and leave them soaking for about twenty minutes, then change the water a time or two using fresh cold water.
If using fresh leaves, plunge a few at a time in boiling water for a few seconds only, until they become limp, and lift them out.
Tamarind is actually fairly easy to find. There is a paste that is in package already made up. You can find it at Asian, Mexican or Indian grocers. You can also find the pods (a little more difficult) and make it yourself. It is akin to a sweet/tangy tea flavor. If you can’t find it, you can skip the sauce all togheter. The grape leaves will be just as delicious without the sauce. But we hope that those that can find it will use it.
Directions:
1. Place a grape leaf on a flat surface, vein side up. You can trim the little stem if you would like.
2. Place about two teaspoons (10 ml) of the filling in the center of the leaf, near the stem edge.
3. Roll the leaf end to end, starting from the stem edge. As you roll, fold the sides of the leaf in toward the center. The leaf should resemble a small cigar, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches (50 mm to 65mm) long.
4. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling.
**You can freeze the stuffed grape leaves at this point. Just line a baking sheet with wax paper. When firmly frozen, transfer to an airtight plastic bag place back in the freezer.
5. In a medium saucepan put in the vegetable oil and then place the filled grape leaves in the pot.
6. Place apricots in between the stuffed grape leaves. Cover and cook over low heat for 5- 8 minutes or until the grape leaves begin to sweat.
7. Using all three tablespoons, place a little of the tamarind concentrate, if using, over the rolls.
8. Combine lemon juice, salt, and water then add to pan, filling it ¾ full.
9. Weigh down the grape leaves with a heat proof plate or board to prevent them from unraveling. Cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes.
**Alternatively, place the saucepan in an oven preheated to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 and cook for an hour.
10. Spoon cooking liquid over the grape leaves occasionally. You will know they are done, when the grape leaves are neither soupy nor dry.
11. Tilt pan sideways over serving platter, allowing the grape leaves to tumble out. Try not to handle them individually to reduce unraveling.

**Alternately you can try spooning them out very gently.

I baked mine for 50min covered up and then the last 10min without aluminum cover.

 

  Notice that I used tomatoes as I couldn't find any apricot and sprinkled with fresh parsley.