Makes: 19doughnuts
Doughnut ingredients:
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 60g golden caster sugar
- 15g fresh yeast, crumbled
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 lemon, zest
- 2tsp fine sea salt
- 125g softened, unsalted butter
- Sunflower oil, for deep-frying
Doughnut filling ingredients:
- 15 mint leaves
- 360ml apple juice
- 240ml lime juice
- 240ml elderflower cordial
- 5 gelatine leaves
Doughnut topping ingredients:
- Fresh mint leaves
- Lime, washed and sliced
- 1 egg white or cup of water
- 1-3 tbsp icing sugar
- 1-3 drops mint or vanilla extract (optional)
Doughnut method:
- To make the doughnuts, place 150g water and all the dough ingredients (apart from the butter) into the bowl of a mixer with a beater paddle. Mix on a medium speed for 8 minutes or until the dough starts coming away from the sides, forming a ball. Turn off the mixer and let the dough rest for 1 minute.
- Start the mixer up again on a medium speed and slowly add the butter to the dough, about 25g at a time. Once it is all incorporated, mix on a high speed for 5 minutes until the dough is glossy, smooth and very elastic when pulled.
- Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean tea towel and leave to prove until doubled in size. Knock back the dough in the bowl briefly, re-cover and place in fridge to chill overnight.
- The following day, take the dough out the fridge and cut into 50g pieces (you should get about 20).
- Roll the dough pieces into smooth, tight buns and place them on a floured baking tray, leaving plenty of room between them, as you don’t want them to stick together whilst proving.
- Cover loosely with cling film and leave for four hours or until doubled in size. Fill your deep fat fryer or heavy based saucepan halfway with oil, heating to 180’C.
- Once heated, carefully slide doughnuts from the tray using a floured pastry scraper. Taking care not to deflate them, place into the oil, frying 2-3 per batch.
- Fry for 2 minutes each side until golden brown – they puff up and float, so you may need to gently push them down after 1 minute to help them colour evenly. Remove from oil and place on kitchen paper.
- Toss doughnuts in a bowl of caster sugar while still warm. Repeat the steps until all doughnuts are fried – making sure the oil temperature is correct at all times.
Filling method:
- Combine mint leaves, lime juice, apple juice and elderflower cordial in a pan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, before taking off the heat.
- Place the gelatine leaves into a bowl of warm water, leaving to soften. Add the gelatine leaves to the filling mix and whisk to combine. Sieve into a container and leave to set in fridge.
Topping method:
1. Break open a fresh egg, separating the white from the yolk. If not using egg white, add 1-3 drops extract to a cup of water. Extract may also be added to the egg white.
2. Using a pastry brush, apply the egg white to both sides of the mint leaves. Dust the leaves lightly with sugar (to catch the excess, place a piece of paper under the leaves). Set the leaves aside to ‘dry’ – they’ll harden or ‘candy’ in about 3 hours.
To fill doughnuts:
- Create a slit in the side of the doughnut and pipe in the filling (20-50g is the optimum quantity for the filling).
- Doughnuts are best eaten straight away, but will keep in an airtight tin.