A Baker's Field Guide to Doughnuts

by Wilson, Dede

• ISBN13: 9781558327887
• ISBN10: 1558327886
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-09-18
• Publisher: Harvard Common Pr

Summary

The American addiction to doughnuts is longstanding and deep-rooted. First there were the lightly sweetened fried doughs of immigrants and pioneers. In the twentieth century, there were waves of doughnut-chain outlets, from Dunkin' Donuts to Krispy Kreme, that made "coffee and a doughnut" practically a prerequisite for making it through a day at work. In recent years, hip, upscale doughnut boutiques have sprung up from Portland and Seattle to Austin and Brooklyn. Just when you think the doughnut habit might be broken, under the influence of this or that anti-carb or anti-sugar diet, it rises up instead and spreads deeper and wider. Alongside cake pops and cupcakes, doughnuts are here with a vengeance, at once retro and cutting-edge, comforting and new. Doughnuts have the reputation of being hard to make by hand in a home kitchen. To be sure, they can be tricky. But with guidance from an expert baker and a gifted teacher, they can be surprisingly simple and straightforward. Dede Wilson is just that kind of reliable and gentle guide. A contributing editor at Bon Appetitand the author of two celebrated books that are the bibles for make-it-yourself wedding cakes (talk about tricky!), the forthcoming Cake Balls,and four previous books in this best-selling Baker's Field Guide series, Wilson here demystifies the doughnut-making process, breaking it down into simple, easy-to-follow steps. Along the way she serves up perfectly tested recipes for traditional doughnut favorites and imaginative new creations. A BAKER'S FIELD GUIDE TO DOUGHNUTS includes 22 building-block-style "Master Recipes"; 2 are for baked doughnuts, 8 are for fried doughnuts, and the remainder are for glazes and other toppings. For people with different taste and texture preferences, there are both yeast-risen and cake-style doughs. The Master Recipes get put to splendid use in the "Field Guide" section that follows, 69 recipes for all manner of doughnutsfilled and unfilled, frosted and unfrostedas well as some doughnut cousins, such as fritters, crullers, churros, and beignets. As with other titles in the series, each recipe in the Field Guide has a Description, a Lifespan note (how to store the doughnut, and for how long), a Field Note (extra tidbits about the doughnut's history and ingredients), and other information presented in a visually engaging field-guide format. The Field Guide recipes range from classics like Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnuts, Cider Doughnuts, Chocolate-Sour Cream Doughnuts, and Apple Fritters to surprising and delectable ideas like Cappuccino Doughnuts with Espresso Cream Filling and Apricot-Cardamom Doughnuts. Wilson provides lots of ideas for ways readers can mix and match the master recipes to create their own signature doughnuts beyond the ones in the book, and she dishes out easy-to-follow advice on techniques and equipment (you do not need a deep-fryer, for example, to make doughnuts). Altogether it's an expert treatment of an on-trend culinary subject, full of promises for the very best fresh and warm home-cooked doughnuts.

Author Biography

Dede Wilson has written over a dozen books, including Unforgettable Desserts, Truffles, The Birthday Cake Book, and Wedding Cakes You Can Make. She is a contributing editor at Bon Apptit and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. 6
Introduction	p. 7
How to Use This Book	p. 8
The Master Recipes	p. 19
Baked Doughnuts	p. 20
Baked Chocolate Doughnuts	p. 21
Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnuts	p. 22
Mashed Potato Doughnuts	p. 23
Sour Cream Doughnuts	p. 24
French Crullers	p. 25
Chocolate Cake-Style Doughnuts	p. 26
Basic Yeast-Raised Doughnuts	p. 28
Chocolate Yeast-Raised Doughnuts	p. 30
Krispy Kreme Kopykat Doughnuts	p. 32
Hard Sugar Glaze	p. 34
Soft and Sheer Sugar Glaze	p. 35
Citrus Glaze	p. 35
Spiced Orange Glaze	p. 36
Cocoa Glaze	p. 37
Dark Chocolate Glaze	p. 38
Dark Chocolate Ganache Glaze	p. 39
Peanut Butter Glaze	p. 40
Cinnamon-Sugar Topping	p. 41
Cream Cheese Frosting	p. 41
Pastry Cream	p. 42
The Field Guide	p. 43
Apple Fritters	p. 44
Apricot-Cardamom Doughnuts	p. 46
Banana Doughnuts with Banana Glaze	p. 48
Basic Baked Doughnuts with Cinnamon Sugar	p. 50
Beignets	p. 52
Blackout Chocolate Doughnuts	p. 54
Blueberry-Sour Cream Fritters	p. 56
Boston Cream Doughnuts	p. 58
Browned Butter-Brown Sugar Sour Cream Doughnuts	p. 60
Buttercream-Filled Doughnuts	p. 62
Cappuccino Doughnuts with Espresso Cream Filling	p. 65
Caramel-Bourbon-Pecan Doughnuts	p. 68
Carrot Cake Doughnuts	p. 70
Cereal Killer (aka Fiber None) Doughnuts	p. 72
Cheesecake-Filled Raised Doughnuts	p. 74
Chocolate Chip Ganache-Glazed Baked Doughnuts	p. 76
Chocolate-Coconut Doughnuts	p. 78
Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Doughnuts	p. 80
Chocolate Mousse Doughnuts	p. 82
Chocolate-Salted Caramel Doughnuts	p. 84
Chocolate-Sour Cream Doughnuts	p. 86
Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce	p. 88
Cider Doughnuts	p. 90
Classic Doughnut Holes	p. 92
Coconut Cream-Filled Doughnuts with Coconut Glaze	p. 94
Crème Baulée Doughnuts, Version # 1	p. 97
Crème Baulée Doughnuts, Version #2	p. 100
Double-Chocolate Ganache Doughnuts	p. 102
Double-Espresso Doughnuts	p. 104
Double-Lemon Glazed Doughnuts	p. 106
Doughnut Shop Glazed Doughnuts	p. 108
French Crullers with Grand Marnier Glaze	p. 110
German Chocolate Cake Doughnuts	p. 112
Gingerbread Doughnuts with Lemon Glaze	p. 114
Grape Expectations	p. 116
Honey Cream-Filled Doughnuts with Milk and Honey Glaze	p. 118
Lemon Meringue Doughnuts	p. 121
Jelly Doughnuts	p. 124
Maple-Bacon Doughnuts	p. 126
Marshmallow Fluff and Peanut Butter Doughnuts	p. 128
Nutella Doughnuts with Gianduja Ganache	p. 130
Old-Fashioned Lard-Fried Doughnuts	p. 132
Peach-Pecan Fritters with Brown Sugar Glaze	p. 134
Peanut Butter-Glazed Jelly Doughnuts	p. 136
Pineapple-Filled Pina Colada Doughnuts	p. 138
Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts	p. 140
Rainbow Sprinkle Doughnuts	p. 142
Raspberry-Crème Fraiche Doughnuts	p. 144
Red Velvet Doughnuts	p. 146
Rich Yeast-Raised Doughnuts	p. 148
Ricotta Fritters	p. 150
Rose Petal French Crullers	p. 152
Spiced Chocolate Doughnuts	p. 154
Sweet Cream Doughnuts	p. 156
Sweet Potato Doughnuts	p. 158
Toasted Almond Doughnuts	p. 160
Toffee Crunch Chocolate Ganache Doughnuts	p. 162
Vanilla Bean Custard Doughnuts	p. 164
Vegan Gluten-Free Baked Doughnuts	p. 166
White Chocolate Truffle Doughnuts	p. 168
Walnut Streusel-Sour Cream Doughnuts with Maple Glaze	p. 170
Resources	p. 173
Measurement Equivalents	p. 174
Index	p. 175
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction

Doughnuts or donuts, however you spell this sweet treat—the mere word elicits a passionate response from devotees.A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnutsbrings you the recipes and information you need to make airy, yeast-risen doughnuts as well as cakelike baking powder doughnuts in flavors sure to please both kids and adults, whether you’re looking for a classic or something new. You will also find doughnuts’ brethren, such as fritters, churros, and beignets, in all sorts of flavors, shapes, and sizes.

Doughnut history is murky: Some say they were brought to North America by Dutch settlers, while others point to the fact that archaeologists have found remnants of fried ring-shaped cakes in the southwestern United States, suggesting that they were made by early Native Americans. Regardless of their origin, by the 1920s doughnuts were being mass-produced in the United States and had become a standard American treat. The popularity of doughnuts was firmly cemented with the opening of large chains such as Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts in the ’40s and ’50s—in fact, most people have only ever bought their doughnuts, never made them at home.

I hope to change that inA Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts,as making your own doughnuts requires mastering just a few techniques and will reward you with incredible flavor and texture that you simply won’t find in store-bought doughnuts.