Cooking: Beignets

My last contribution were beignets. I wasn't planning on making this but the gracious host had a deep fryer. And well, they're basically doughnuts, no? I love doughnuts. And homemade? Yeah, baby! Okay, so beignets are totally different, I know. But it's fried dough and that's what I mainly wanted.

Luckily I was watching Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell. I really like her recipes. They're classic and actually pretty easy to follow. And she loves salt, as do I. It's a perfect marriage. Anyway, so following her recipe for beignets, I proofed some yeast in warm water and sugar. It gets all bubbly and yeasty smelling.

While that works, I mixed together the other wet ingredients which included eggs, evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla extract. Then I sifted the flour, sugar, and salt into a stand up mixer with the dough hook attached. With the machine on a low speed, I added the yeast and egg mixture. I turned up the speed until the dough came together into a ball.

I kneeded it for a couple of seconds. You don't want too much kneeding because it would develop too much gluten and become bread-esque. You want light and fluffy. Into a container, lightly covered, and allowed to rest in a warm area. It should double in size. This ball of dough basically filled the entire container by the time it was done.

And this is where the mistake happened. When I was ready to fry up these pretty babies, I deflated the dough by moving it around. I should have just taken my dough slicer and cut out pieces. Major deflating indeed. My supposedly light beignets are actually more like heavy zeppoles. People still ate the fine but I wasn't satisfied with them. I'll try the recipe again. Hopefully, next time I would act with a lighter hand.

Beignets
Recipe courtesy Anne Burrell

Prep Time:
15 min
Inactive Prep Time:
2 hr 0 min
Cook Time:
15 min

Level:
Easy

Serves:
About 2 dozen

Ingredients

* 3/4 cup lukewarm water
* 1(.25-ounce) packet active dry yeast
* 1/2 cup, plus 1 teaspoon sugar
* 4 cups all-purpose flour
* Pinch salt
* 2 egg yolks
* 1/2 cup evaporated milk
* 3 tablespoons melted butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 4 to 6 cups peanut or other neutrally-flavored oil, for frying
* Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

In a measuring cup combine the water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let sit until the yeast gets frothy and smells yeasty.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and pinch salt.

In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, evaporated milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the yeast mixture and whisk to combine well.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and place on the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Once the ingredients are well combined, knead 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover, and place in a warm area for 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

In a wide, deep pot, heat the oil to 350 degrees F.

Remove the dough from the bowl and lightly knead on a floured work surface. Cut the dough into 2-inch squares.

Set up a paper towel-lined sheet tray to land the beignets when they come out of the oil.

Working in batches so as to not crowd the oil, fry the dough squares until they are puffy and golden brown. Remove from the oil, make a pit stop on the paper towels and immediately dust with powdered sugar.

Serve hot!!!!!