Bomboloni

Bomboloni are traditional Italian donuts filled with different creams like pastry cream and Nutella. The whole process is in my YouTube video so check it out for a complete class on the procedure!
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INGREDIENTS

• 56g Water (room temperature)
• 10g Dry yeast
• 82g Whole milk (or 2% at room temp.)
• 126g Sugar
• 104g Eggs, whole (2 eggs)
• 14g Vanilla paste or extract
• 7g (about) Zest of a whole orange
• 1.5g (1/2 tsp) Cinnamon, ground
• 0.66g (2/3 tsp) Nutmeg, ground
• 420g Unbleached all purpose flour
• 34g Cornstarch
• 9g Kosher salt
• 56g Butter, unsalted
• Vegetable oil for frying (canola, evoo, or a mix)
• Sugar for covering them
• Your favorite creams such as vanilla pastry cream, Nutella, dulce de leche, etc.

Preferred piping tip: Ateco #230 or a small star or round tip such as Ateco #822 or #803

PROCEDURE

  • If your yeast is the regular active dry yeast that you get in the supermarket, you are going to have to rehydrate it. For this, place the water and milk with a pinch of salt in your mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Give it a little mix and wait 8-10 minutes until you see it is very foamy. If it hasn’t produced bubbles after 12 minutes, it means your yeast is dead and you need to throw it away.
  • Once the yeast is active, you can add all the wet ingredients on top of the yeast, meaning on the bottom of the bowl and then finish with the dry ingredients like flour, cornstarch and spices.
  • The only ingredients that you will leave on the side will be the butter.
  • Mix everything first with the paddle attachment until it comes together. Then switch to the hook attachment.
  • Mix it for 2-3 minutes until a nice dough has formed, you can then add the butter in small pieces making sure you don’t add the next piece until the previous one has incorporated into the dough.
  • The butter should be cool to the touch but not too cold.
  • If the dough begins to stick to the sides and bottom of the bowl, simply stop the machine and scrape down the sides and bottom with a flexible bench scraper or spatula. Continue to mix until all the butter has incorporated.
  • The dough might look like it won’t come together at the beginning but it will, just be a little patient. Refer to my YouTube video to see this procedure.
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  • Once the dough has formed a ball, transfer to a flat surface to kneed for a few minutes just to finish the mixing process by hand. Spray some cooking spray to your surface instead of flour so it doesn’t stick and you don’t add unnecessary extra flour to your dough.
  • Spray some more cooking spray inside a bowl and place the dough in it. Give a quick spray on top of the dough and cover with plastic wrap. If possible, let it ferment in the oven (turned OFF) with a pot with steamed water. If you are able to do this, then leave a little opening on the plastic wrap. If your oven is not available, then simply cover with the plastic, a towel and place on the warmest part of your house.
  • Let it ferment for two hours.
  • The dough is then ready to roll and cut. Gently roll the dough to ¾” or about 2cm thick. Cut the bomboloni using a simple round cutter. I use a cutter with 2 ¾” or 7cm in diameter but you can use any size you’d like, including small ones to make little “donut holes.”
  • Place on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper or silicon mat and let it proof again for about 1.5-2 hours.
  • Using a shallow, preferably thick bottom pot, add about 3” or 8cm of oil and bring to 155ºC or 311ºF. These bomboloni fry at a rather low temperature, otherwise they will brown too quickly on the outside but will be raw inside.
  • Turn them over once they are golden brown on the first side. Remove from the oil once they are golden brown on both sides.
  • Place over paper towels to pat dry the oil. Then place the bomboloni in a bowl full of sugar and coat them really well all around. Put them back on a sheet tray until they are ready to fill.
  • To fill them, place your fillings or creams in piping bags with your preferred tip.
  • You can make a little hole on one or two sides or directly insert the piping tip. Squeeze and fill until you see that the filling begins to come out.
Enjoy these sinfully good donuts while they are just coming to room temperature. Buon Carnevale!

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