Baked Jam Filled Doughnuts

Great British Baking Show: “The Beginnings” (Netflix), Season 5 (PBS)                                                   –A.K.A. The Great British Bake Off Series 3

Episode 7:                                                                                                                                                         Technical Challenge– Jam Filled Donuts

 

After a brief hiatus in the busy month of May, I finally got back to baking. I had my mother-in-law’s birthday, mother’s day, my brother’s birthday, and my wedding anniversary all in the month of May. That left little time on the weekend for my baking adventures, so I had to pause for a short while. June was pretty hectic too so it took me some time to post this after actually making the doughnuts, but it’s finally posted! And keep checking in because this weekend I’m baking Brioche! I’m so excited, it’s my first time. 

Anyway I dove right into doughnut making! I did make some changes. The technical, I believe was Paul’s recipe (it’s bread…duh!), but I decided not to go with his recipe mainly for one reason: frying. My mother-in-law has a small fryer I could have borrowed, but I just didn’t feel like dealing with the mess of frying, and my husband and I have been trying to eat healthier (even though I bake every weekend…go figure that one out), so I thought baking doughnuts would be easier and slightly (like really slightly) healthier. I found a baked doughnut recipe online and I chose raspberry jam as the center. The doughnut was a little denser than I imagined. That could be the product of not frying it or something happened with the rise. They were still pretty delicious though!

First I started with mixing my dough together in the stand mixer. The dough started to form and I had to start hand kneading it a bit for the rest of it to stick together. Then I put it onto my counter top and hand kneaded it for a good 10 minutes. It really works your arms, I’ll tell you that! After the kneading, I put it in a large greased bowl and covered it. I let it rise for 2 hours.

 

After the rising, I cut the dough into 16 equal-ish pieces and then formed them into balls. It took a lot of rolling and pinching onto the bottom. Every doughnut formed, I let them rise for another 2 hours. I think my problem might have been the rising. The recipe was supposed to yield 25 doughnuts, and I only got 16 out of it. 

 

The donuts went into the oven until they were a nice golden brown. I let them cool a bit and then started prepping to fill them with jam. I put granular sugar on a plate and had a clean plate out to put the finished doughnuts on. Then I got my jam and syringe thing out and a knife.

First, I brushed the cooled doughnuts with melted butter and then rolled them in sugar. Then I poked a pointy knife in a criss-cross shape in the edge of the doughnut. I poked into the criss-cross to the center of the doughnut using my jam-filled syringe and squeezed jam in the center. I did this for each doughnut, and when they were all finished I got to enjoy the fruits of my labor! They were sugary and delicious with a generous amount of jam in the middle to bite into. Yum!

 

Adapted from Bakingmad.com.

Ingredients:

• 4 1/8 c bread flour
• 1 pkg instant yeast (2.5 tsp)
• 3 1/2 tbsp butter, diced
• 1 1/8 c almond milk
• 1 egg, beaten 
• 1/3 c granular sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c butter, melted
• 1/2 c granular sugar
• 1 jar of raspberry jam (or any other jam of your choosing) 

Directions:

1. Heat up milk and diced butter in skillet on stove top until butter is fully melted. Let cool. Mix flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in stand mixer. Add milk/butter mixture, and beaten egg and mix until combined into a dough. 
2. Knead dough on lightly floured counter top for 10 minutes by hand or use dough hook attachment on stand mixer. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and let rise in a warm dark place for 2 hours or until doubled in size. 
3. Take out risen dough, punch down. Cut into equal pieces, anywhere from 15-20. Roll into equal sized ball shapes. Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper with a good amount of space for rising. Cover and let rise another hour or 2 until doubled in size. 
4. Preheat oven to 375°F. Cook the doughnuts for 12-15 minutes until they are a nice golden brown color. Let cool for a few minutes.
5. Brush with melted butter and roll in sugar. Cut a little criss-cross into the edge of the doughnut and stick a syringe into that to fill jam into the center. Enjoy! 

 

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