I joined Baking Partners to learn new techniques and learn to new bakes. When Swathi threw us the Kronut curve I was nervous, that is saying the least.

I had tried laminating dough once and it ended in the bin. Here too, this is my second attempt. Thankfully I mentioned it to Swathi and she helped me.

I cannot say my Kronuts are a crowning success but failure is the stepping stone to success. I plan to make these again!

The girls of course are thrilled not so my waistline, for you cannot stop at one.

This is a copy even the write up is what Swathi had provided with a few of my notes to myself.  But if I sit to write the whole thing again I will never get to post it.

Thanks Swathi for all the help and the detailed notes too.

Crouu-doughnuts/Kronut

Make the dough on the First day On the Second day incorporate butter into the dough & on the Third day fry the dough.

Recipe adapted from BootLeg cronut

Makes around 16 nos

Ingredients:

For dough:

•  3 cups all purpose flour+ more for dusting the work table
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup+2 tablespoon milk
• 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 jumbo eggs,at room temperature
•  3 ½   tblsp Amul butter, at room temperature

For butter layer:

1 ¼ cup+½ tblsp Amul butter

For frying:

• Canola oil:  2-4 cup
• Water: 200 g for brushing on the top
• 400g sugar

Method:

• To make the dough start working on the dough in the evening.
• Heat ¼ cup of Luke warm milk, 1tsp sugar and yeast. Mix and let it stand in a warm corner for 5-10 minutes or till the yeast froths.
• Warm the rest of the milk and add the butter so that the butter melts.
• Mix the flour, salt, sugar, in a bowl.
• Then to the dry mixture add butter, milk mixture and eggs. Mix with the mixer on low speed till everything is incorporated.
•  Mix on higher speed for another 8 minutes. Mix on higher speed for another 8 minutes. If you kneading with your hand make sure to knead well for about 10-15 minutes or until you get smooth shiny dough.
• Remove & Tuck the dough under edges to form a ball. Coat a bowl with oil and place the dough in it with seams down.
•  Use a knife to cut a cross into top surface (this will help the dough relax). Cover tightly with clear plastic wrap, making sure it is in contact with the dough.  Place dough in a warm area and allow it to double in size about 60 minutes.
• Once dough has “poofed, or doubled in size” transfer to refrigerator to overnight.

Next day you start incorporating the butter to the dough.

•  Cut the cold butter lengthwise into ½-inch-thick slabs. Arrange the pieces on a piece of butter paper to form a 5- to 6-inch square, cutting the butter as necessary to fit.
• Top with another piece of butter paper and with a rolling pin pound the butter with light, even strokes.
• The result being the butter pieces begin to adhere. Then use more force.
• Pound the butter until it’s about 4 x 6 inches square and then trim the edges. Put the trimmings on top of the square and pound again lightly. Place in refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours.

Laminate the dough

•  Unwrap and lay the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a 10-½-inch square. Brush excess flour off the dough.
•  Remove the butter from the refrigerator. If it is not hard refrigerate a bit longer.
• Unwrap and place the butter on the dough so that the points of the butter square are in line with the sides of the dough.
• Fold one flap of dough over the butter toward you, stretching it slightly so that the point just reaches the centre of the butter. Repeat with the other flaps.
• Then press the edges together to completely seal the butter inside the dough. (A complete seal ensures butter won’t escape this I believe was my mistake both the times I made it).

1^st Turn:

• Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough. With the rolling pin, firmly press the dough to elongate it slightly and then begin rolling instead of pressing, focusing on lengthening rather than widening the dough and keeping the edges straight.
•  Turn the dough so that a shorter end faces you. Roll to expand the length of the dough, making sure that the dough doesn’t stick to the table. Add flour if needed.
• When you have a rectangle about 21 x 9 inches, fold the top third of the rectangle down and fold the bottom third up to cover it. Turn the dough 90 degrees so that the opening resembles a book.
• Return to the dough to the fridge. ( this was my second mistake)

2nd Turn:

• You can do this step immediately but in my case it was a big mistake as the dough was too warm, I should have wrapped in film and place in the refrigerator until it cooled.
•  Repeat rolling as in the first turn, then turn 90 degrees and gently press two fingers into the lower right corner to mark the number of turns. This is marking the dough. It allows you to track your progress, and ensure that the orientation of the dough is correct when you remove it from the refrigerator.)
• Cover the dough in a parchment paper and then again with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or till it’s cold.

3rd Turn:

• The dough should l be hard (mine was not should have waited), so gently pound the dough to warm the butter.
•  If it is too cold the butter will separate and not spread as it should.
•  Repeat the previous steps, and turn again, marking the corner with three fingerprints.
• Cover dough with parchment paper and plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4th Turn:

• Make the final turn, repeating the steps from turns 1-3. Refrigerate overnight

 3^{rd day}

 Crouu-doughnuts/ kronuts frying day

Rolling out the Dough:

• Lightly dust the platform with flour and roll out the dough to ½ inch thick.
• The dough has to be cold and not stick to the surface. If it does stick in the fridge the dough goes and roll again when cool.
• Transfer to a butter paper cover with a cling film and chill before use.

 Punching out cronut:

• Prepare a baking pan with butter parchment paper grease it.
• Remove dough from fridge and punch out the holes with two ring moulds. I used a cookie cutter and a bottle cap for the inner circle.
• Punch the dough if it’s very cold. Otherwise, your Kronut won’t fry straight.
•  Transfer half of the punched kronuts to the prepared sheet leaving room for kronuts to “poof.”
•  Brush tops of the Kronut with water and set aside.  Place Kronut holes on the same sheet tray, leaving enough space for them to poof without sticking to each other. Leave in a warm area until they have proofed, about 30 min.
•    Once it is proofed keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes before frying.

Frying crouu/doughnuts:

•   Heat oil in a pot, about 3 inches high (I use rice bran oil).
• Test oil with a pinch of flour: if flour foams it is ready for deep frying. Turn heat to low and place Kronuts in oil, 1-2 at a time to avoid overcrowding the pot.
• Turn and flip Kronuts often so that they brown evenly.
•  Once golden brown throughout, test one to see if it is cooked all the way through
• Remove and place on paper towels.
•  Once it is no longer shiny transfer to a container with sugar and cinnamon and toss.

Important points to Remember

• Don’t over work with dough with too much kneading,
• Don’t over work with butter, if butter starts to leaking, try to put it back in the refrigerator.
• Flour the area well so that dough won’t stick
• Heat oil in medium temperature and fry the kronuts in low temperature otherwise outside become too dark soon and inside won’t cook properly.

Filling and glaze

For pastry cream and filling

Suggested by   Reeni of Cinnamon Spice and everything nice

Adapted From King Arthur Flour

I have never heard of pastry cream and after the fiasco of the kronnut dough I did not want to make pastry cream. Then I remembered the main reason for which I joined Baking Partners to learn new techniques and new stuff. I decided that I make it. How much more does a person go down under? Right?

Apparently Pastry cream is one of the building blocks of a great dessert.

It is Delicious as is, but can be flavoured in an number of ways to create the perfect touch for your cake, pie, or pastry.

To make pastry cream keep all of your ingredients and equipment on hand before you begin for once the egg yolks begin to cook you cannot hunt for your strainer!

This is basic recipe and calls for ½ cup of sugar and the pastry cream is barely sweet. For a pie filling increase the sugar to ¾ cup.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole milk
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon APF or Maida
• 4 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup butter + some more to rub on top
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Equipment needed:

• Medium saucepan
• Whisk
• Strainer
• Cling wrap

Method:

• In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 2 ½ cups of the milk, sugar, salt. Simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
•  Whisk the cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining ½ cup milk.
•  Whisk some of the hot milk mixture with the egg yolks to temper them. This keeps the yolks from turning to scrambled eggs when you add them to the simmering milk.
•  Strain the egg &milk mixture back into the remaining simmering milk.  Straining will prevent lumps later. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture thickens.
•  Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve.
•  Stir in the butter and vanilla essence.
•  Flavour the pastry cream with chocolate or some other flavour, if you wish now. (I did not but check the variations below).
•  Rub a piece of butter over the surface of the cream, top with a piece of plastic wrap in a way that the plastic touches the top of the pastry cream. This prevents a skin on top of the cream. Refrigerate until cool.
•  Lastly fold the whipped cream into the cooled pastry cream.

Variations:

Butterscotch Pastry Cream: Add ¼ teaspoon butter-rum flavour and/or 1 cup (6 ounces) butterscotch chips to the pastry cream after straining, stirring until the chips have melted.

Caramel Pastry Cream: Add ¾ cup chopped caramel (7 ½ ounces, or 21 to 23 unwrapped individual caramels) to the hot, strained pastry cream, stirring until melted and the mixture is smooth.

Chocolate Pastry Cream: Add 1 cup (6 ounces) chopped chocolate to the hot, strained pastry cream, stirring until melted and the mixture is smooth.

Hazelnut Pastry Cream: Omit the butter and increase the sugar to ¾ cup (5 ¼ ounces). Add ¾ cup (8 ¼ ounces) praline paste to the hot, strained pastry cream, stirring until combined.

Orange Pastry Cream: Increase the sugar to ¾ cup (5 ¼ ounces). Add 1 teaspoon orange extract; ¼ teaspoon orange oil; or 3 tablespoons orange zest to the hot, strained pastry cream.

Peanut Butter Pastry Cream: Add ¾ cup (7 ¼ ounces) smooth peanut butter to the hot pastry cream, stirring until melted and the mixture is smooth. If you’re using a natural or freshly-made peanut butter, omit the butter from the recipe, or the pastry cream will be greasy.

Pistachio Pastry Cream: Omit the butter and increase the sugar to ¾ cup (5 ¼ ounces). Add ¾ cup (8 ¼ ounces) pistachio paste, or blanched pureed pistachio meats.

Glazes from King Arthur Flour

I made the vanilla glaze but the girls wanted colour and blue colour so we added a few drops of colour to the glaze.  As I did not have light corn syrup I did not use it used a milk in place.

Easy Vanilla Glaze:

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar or glazing sugar, sifted to remove any lumps
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
•  1 to 2 tablespoons milk or water+ a little more
•   ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

• Stir the ingredients together, adding extra liquid or confectioners’ sugar to adjust the consistency as needed. Yield: about ½ cup glaze.

My mistakes:

• I used 4 eggs instead of the 2 as they were small. Should have used 2 only. Result was I had to add flour, lots more than called for. Result I was totally nervous and expecting a disaster.
• My butter was not cold enough. Should remember that in Goa where it is hot I need longer chilling time. Should have got the butter ready on day 1.
• Did not wait for the dough to cool in-between turns. It is warm here baby. Remember that.
• Finally do not expect disasters you get one.

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Archana

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