Gigantic Custard Doughnuts

These doughnuts are absolutely huge! They are at least double the size of standard supermarket-sized doughnuts. I’ve filled my doughnuts with homemade custard but you could always use jam or Nutella inside these, whatever takes your fancy.

Makes 6-7 Gigantic Doughnuts

Ingredients:

For dough:

-300 grams plain flour (you will need additional for dusting your surface and kneading)

-200 grams strong white bread flour

-100g unsalted butter

-220ml whole milk

-1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 teaspoon of lemon zest

-3 eggs

-1/8 teaspoon salt

-7g sachet of dried yeast

-Three tablespoons of warm water

-50g white sugar

For homemade custard:

-300ml whole milk

-4 egg yolks

-Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract

-40g white sugar

-1/8 teaspoon salt

-2 tablespoons of cornflour

Method:

For the dough:

-In a jug or container mix the sachet of dried yeast with three tablespoons of warm water and set aside for five minutes to let it froth.

-In the meanwhile melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk and vanilla extract over low heat and warm the milk through. Don’t let the milk get too hot, it needs only to be warmed.

-In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and make a well in the center.

-Add the yeast to the well and pour over the milky, buttery sweet liquid, and stir.

-Crack the three eggs into the mixture.

-Add lemon zest and set it aside, covered in a warm area, to prove for an hour.

-After an hour the dough should have risen. Tip it out onto a floured surface and knead. (If the dough is a little sticky that’s usually a sign of a good dough. Make sure not to dry it out too much by over flouring.)

-Using a dough scraper cut into the center of the dough and pull the dough out to create a long sausage shape.

-Using the dough scraper portion 6-7 sections of dough. Round each individual dough by rotating the dough with the palm of your hand; careful to keep the round shape.

-Leave to prove in a warm area for a further 2-3 hours until they have doubled in size.

-They are now ready to be fried. I submerged mine into a deep fat fryer giving each large doughnut about 8 minutes to turn golden, but depending on the heat it could take less time.

For the custard:

-Over low heat add the sugar to the pan along with the egg yolks and milk. Whisk.

-Add the cornflour, vanilla extract and salt. Continue to whisk.

-Keep over the heat for approx. 5 minutes continuously whisking until the custard is thickened. (To test if the custard is thick enough, it should be able to coat the back of a spoon.)

-Make sure not to have the heat on too high as it may scramble the eggs.

-The custard will be ready to pipe into the doughnuts, once the doughnuts have cooled.