Lime Curd Berliners (B&P28)

The Berliner is a rich cake style doughnut filled with your choice of jelly or curd. These doughnuts were part of our "Mo-down" extravaganza.

Since filled doughnuts are only enjoyed by the adults at my house, I used one of our favorites lime curd. However, you could use your favorite jelly instead. Jam or preserves don't work as well if you use an injector pastry tip.

These were delicious and got rave reviews from the adult judges at the "Mo-down." The kid judges elected not to participate in this event, since they don't like filled doughnuts.  My husband and I had never had a cake style filled doughnut, but my parents had in years past. They shared a wide variety of memories of filled old-fashioned type doughnuts from their various neighborhood bakeries where they grew up.

Give these Berliners a shot, you'll thoroughly enjoy them.


Recipe

Equipment Needed:  cookie sheet, jelly injector tip, pastry bag, 2 1/2 inch cake ring (optional)


Protein Content:
Original Content: 32.5 g
GF Content: 32.627 g

Yield: 8 to 9 filled doughnuts

40 g brown rice flour (3.6 g)
36 g sweet rice flour (2.16 g)
34 g arrowroot starch (.102 g)
53 g almond meal (10.6 g)
40 g millet flour (6.095 g)
7 g chia seed meal (1.47 g)
40 g white bean flour (8.6 g)
8 g agar agar powder
22 g instant dry yeast
50 g cane sugar
pinch sea salt
3 g grated lemon zest
120 ml whole milk
37 g butter, soft
49 g egg (approx.1 lg egg)
14 g egg yolk (approx. 1 egg yolk)
4 ml vanilla extract
3 ml agave syrup

jelly or curd, for filling
hot oil, for frying
cane sugar, for dipping
powdered sugar, for topping

1. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir. In a medium bowl, pour in all the liquid ingredients and blend together. Slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir together.  Dough should form into a slightly soft ball.

2. Place the dough ball in the center of a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with arrowroot starch. Divide the dough into 8 or 9 pieces of equal size. Shape each piece of dough into a round ball and then press lightly with your palm to flatten slightly. Transfer to another sheet of parchment paper that has arrowroot starch sprinkled on it. Continue until all pieces of dough have been shaped.  Place the dough in a warm location and allow to rise for 2 hours.

3. Preheat the oil to 350 degrees F/177 degrees C. Transfer a few of the Berliners at a time into the oil. Cook each side about 1 minutes or until golden brown.  The 2nd side might take 30 seconds or so longer to cook.

4. Lift the Berliners out of the oil with a spider or slotted spatula.  Allow the excess oil to drain off before placing on a paper towel lined cookie pan.

5. Put an injector tip on a pastry bag and fill with jelly or curd. When the Berliners are cool enough to handle, inject 1 oz/28 g of jelly or curd. Dip both sides of the Berliner into cane sugar and then sift confectioner's sugar over them.

Other Baking & Pastry Project Posts

Index of the Baking & Pastry Project

Baking & Pastry Project #27 - Yeast Raised Doughnuts

Baking & Pastry Project Week 14 - Doughnuts

Baking & Pastry Project #26 - Pita

Baking & Pastry Project #25 - Naan

Baking & Pastry Project Week 13 - Flatbreads

Baking & Pastry Project #24 - Lavosh

Baking & Pastry Project #23 - Pizza
Baking & Pastry Project Week 12 - Pizza & Crackers
Baking & Pastry Project #22 - Soft Pretzels
Baking & Pastry Project #21 - Crescia al Formaggio
Baking & Pastry Project Week 11 - Parmesan & Pretzels

Want More?

You can also follow me on Twitter, where I'm glutenagogo.

Baking & Pastry Project Week 14 - Doughnuts

It's doughnut week! I've been busy making yeast raised doughnuts and berliners.

There are a couple of unique food items on the ingredient list this week.  The first is emulsified shortening, which absorbs more sugar and liquid than does regular shortening. Cakes and frosting will also have a finer smoother texture. When you shop for it you can find it under the brand names Alphine Hi-Ratio Shortening or Sweetex.


The second item is glycerin. It is used in the recipe for the fondant icing. The glycerin softens the fondant and it also adds a nice sheen.

Have fun and don't eat too many!


Schedule

Tuesday - Yeast Raised Doughnuts

Thursday - Berliners

Shopping List

Brown Rice Flour (Fine or Superfine Grind)
Sweet Rice Flour (also called glutinous rice flour)
Arrowroot Starch
Almond Meal
High Protein Flours, such as: Soybean, White Bean, Black Bean
Whole Grain Flour, such as: Buckwheat, Millet, Sorghum, Quinoa, Teff
Instant Dry Yeast
Binding Agents, such as: Xanthan or Guar Gum, Chia Seed Meal, Agar Agar Powder

Non-fat dry milk
Ground nutmeg
Emulsified shortening
Glycerin
Corn Syrup

Resources

Flours & Binding Agents: Authentic Foods, Barry Farm, Bob's Red Mill
Instant Dry Yeast: Barry Farm
Agave Syrup: Wild Organics, Native Seeds

Non-Fat Dry Milk: Barry Farm
Emulsified Shortening: Amazon.com
Glycerin: Kerekes, Wilton



Equipment

Stock Pot, Dutch Oven, Wok or Deep Fat Fryer
Doughnut Cutter
Bismark Pastry Tip

Thermometer


What's Going On?


I was a very lucky woman and received a copy of the Culinary Institute of America's Baking & Pastry book along with their culinary dvd's from my family for my birthday and our anniversary. After watching all the DVDs, I decided to work my way through the CIA's Baking and Pastry book - of course making it gluten free. There were so many skills that I wanted to develop and work on. I hope you will be interested in sharing my journey with me.

Want More?

You can also follow me on Twitter, where I'm glutenagogo.

Other Baking & Pastry Project Posts

Index of the Baking & Pastry Project

Baking & Pastry Project #26 - Pita

Baking & Pastry Project #25 - Naan

Baking & Pastry Project Week 13 - Flatbreads

Baking & Pastry Project #24 - Lavosh

Baking & Pastry Project #23 - Pizza
Baking & Pastry Project Week 12 - Pizza & Crackers
Baking & Pastry Project #22 - Soft Pretzels
Baking & Pastry Project #21 - Crescia al Formaggio
Baking & Pastry Project Week 11 - Parmesan & Pretzels

Chocolate Chestnut Doughnuts

My children have been asking me for quite some time to try my hand at making doughnuts. I have to admit, I've been resisting their requests. I was feeling pretty rusty with my frying skills and the fried ravioli appetizer that went horribly wrong popped vividly into my mind (think smoke, burning food, panicked dog, crying toddler). However, my children are quite persistent and have developed some wicked negotiating skills. It wasn't long before I was relenting under the combined weight of their arguments.

With my fate sealed, I chose the Old Fashioned Chocolate Doughnut recipe from my Fanny Farmer cookbook. I was just praying that Fanny's recipe would save the day. Loaded with cocoa powder and relying on baking powder to give them a bit of loft, this sounded like something that could work for my first foray into making gluten free doughnuts. Then I selected a Creamy Chocolate Frosting and a Vanilla Glaze recipe to finish off these delectable little delights.

Doughnut frying novice that I am, I managed to burn the first batch of doughnuts. Thankfully, it was easy to modify my timing on flipping the doughnuts over and the following batches were saved from having a dense carbon coating. After they drained and cooled down, I dipped half of the doughnuts into a boiled chocolate frosting and the rest into a light vanilla glaze.

I was pretty pleased with myself on Saturday morning, decked out in my apron and pajamas, eating my own gluten free chocolate doughnuts. They had a dense cocoa flavor that wasn't too sweet. The texture was like cake and held together nicely in your hand without falling apart. My husband and I thought they were pretty good, although my children would have preferred a sweeter doughnut. Their favorite part was the much sweeter chocolate frosting.

This recipe is being submitted to Tartelette & Peabody's Time to Make the Doughnuts Baking Event. Stop by their sites after February 12th to see a round up of all the submissions.

Recipe

Doughnuts

1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup cane sugar or 1/3 cup agave syrup
1 egg, beaten
1 Tb melted butter or vegetable shortening
3 tsp baking powder
pinch nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp chia seed meal
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup chestnut flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/4 cup sweet rice flour

1. In a large bowl, dump in all the dry ingredients and stir together.

2. In a medium bowl, pour in the almond milk, agave syrup (if you are using it instead of cane sugar), butter and egg. Stir together.

3. Pour the liquid ingredients slowly into the large bowl holding the dry ingredients. Then stir together. If the mixture is too dry, add one tablespoon full of almond milk at a time until the dough is the right consistency. It should hold together and stay together when rolled into a ball.

4. Divide the dough in half and place one part on a piece of parchment paper. Cover the dough with another piece of parchment paper and roll out until the dough is about 1/2 inch thick. Place the rolled dough sandwiched in between the parchment paper in the refrigerator to cool for at least 1 hour.

5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and using the cutter press out the doughnuts. Make sure to save the centers, so you can make doughnut holes. Place the cut doughnuts and holes on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Continue until you have cut doughnuts out of all the dough.

6. In a heavy sauce pan pour in enough oil so that it is at least 1 to 2 inches deep. (I used my electric wok to fry the doughnuts.) Place your frying thermometer on the side of the pan and bring up the temperature of the oil until it reaches 360 degrees Fahrenheit.

7. Fry 3 to 4 of the doughnuts at a time. Use a chopstick to flip them over to cook the other side. Keep an eye on them as they cook quickly and will burn if left on one side too long. Use a slotted spoon or a spider to remove the doughnuts from the oil. Place them on a paper towel lined pan to drain. Allow to cool fully before frosting.

8. Dip one side of the doughnuts into the chocolate frosting and set on a parchment paper lined pan to dry. For the glazed doughnuts, dip one side into the mixture and then flip them over. Use chopsticks to stand up the doughnut to roll the side of the doughnut through the glaze. Set the glazed doughnut on the parchment paper to dry.




Chocolate Frosting

2 ounces semi sweet chocolate grated
1 cup cane sugar
3 Tb cornstarch
1 Tb butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 cup water

1. In a medium bowl, dump in the sugar and cornstarch.

2. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring the water to a boil. Once it is boiling, dump in the chocolate and stir. Then pour in the sugar and the cornstarch. Constantly stir the mixture over the heat until it is thick and smooth. Then remove the pan from the heat.

3. Dump in the butter, vanilla and salt and beat well.


Vanilla Glaze

1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 Tb water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, dump in the powdered sugar, water and vanilla extract. Stir together and using the back of the spoon press out any of powdered sugar that is still clumped together.

2. Once the mixture is smooth it is ready for the doughnuts.