Homemade Filled Doughnuts. With Chocolate.

So, the Queen has mentioned the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in her posts. Consequently, I had it in my "cue" of books to purchase. A couple of weeks back, I decided to pursue some "retail therapy." Well, like any other good foodie...I didn't find myself a good pair of shoes, or great purse. Instead, I went ahead and grabbed two cookbooks I had been eying. The bread cookbook being one of them.

I dutifully surfed through them searching for the first two items to sample. I will post about the OTHER item in the coming days, but I have to tell you - both turned out wonderfully! I am so excited to sample all the other great recipes.

Today's item is a pastry, and I think I was attracted to this "different" sort of bread. They are similar to something I make on New Years called an Okinawan Doughnut. The only difference is those are made with Soda and Powder as leavening agents, while this recipe is made with yeast.

Oh, and these have chocolate. Therefore, these are FAR superior.

Homemade filled Doughnuts, From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Brioche Dough, as written in the book. I would half this (makes 4 1 lb loaves as written):

1.5 cups lukewarm water
1.5 tablespoons granulated yeast
1.5 tablespoons salt
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1.5 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
7.5 cups flour.

With a spoon, mix all wet ingredients together. Then follow with the flour. The dough is REALLY wet (like you did something wrong) because as it chills it sets up better. I actually added another half cup of flour to make myself feel better. I would probably (in hindsight) add another half cup to make it easier to work with later.

Let rise until it falls on itself. Over two hours. Then chill for awhile. Overnight is probably best, but you can let it sit in the fridge for 5 days.

When you're ready to rock, take a pound of the dough (a quarter of it, if made as written), and roll out on a well floured surface in a rectangle. Make 2 by 2 inch squares with a pizza cutter, place 5 or 6 chocolate chips in the middle of each piece, and gather the sides up. Pinch away, use some water if you need it to close everything up.

Let sit while you heat your oil to 360 or 370 (I kept it sort of low to make sure it didn't get too hot too quick). You're deep frying, so fill the pan accordingly.

Drop in as many as your pan can comfortably hold. I used a dutch oven, and added 6 or 7 at a time. Don't overcrowd! Let them turn golden brown, flip, and let them get golden on the other side. I actually found that they flipped themselves...which was sort of cool.

When they're done, let them dry on paper towels. Then I heavily dusted them in powdered sugar.

Great brunch or afternoon tea treat.