BBB throw their bread in the deep (fryer)

The Bread Baking Babes are bake (these months fly by so fast!) and our dear Elle ("Feeding my enthusiasms") was so inventive in finding us a bread I never would have thought of for the Babes. I guess because it tastes like pastry instead of bread, but she's right. It is a kind of bread, it has yeast, has a rise, it just takes a deep fryer (or pan with hot oil) to bake them instead of an oven.  A great idea! She thought it would be easier for us that we wouldn't have to turn on our hot ovens during a summery heatwave, I guess she's not familiar with our Dutch summers, they vary a lot. And this one didn't bring much heat or sunny days unfortunately.

So in preparing these I found I needed less milk than the recipe wanted me too, it's just got so wet, I only added a little bit. I was making another recipe at the same time, so I might have made a mistake in the amounts somewhere, I'll check the other babes later to find out how much liquids they had left if any. Am I getting so old that my multitasking skills are crumbling?

Beignets without filling

(rolled out too thin)

Anyway when rolling out the first half of the dough -meant to be plain beignets- I found my dough flaps very thin... this wasn't going to work. And it didn't really, they were crisp and greasy, but had no interior.
And again -afterwards- I found I had misread the recipe (the inches makes me confused at times too) and rolled them out like I should the second part.

The second half of the dough are filled beignets, so you roll that thinner and fold over the filling (so they are twice the thickness). That makes sense and thus I discovered my mistake with the plain beignets.
The filled ones were delicious, I placed fresh blueberries in them and we loved them. I'd make them even a little thicker next time for a more bready interior. Just I shame I misread the recipe with the plain ones. Better next time.

This sound fun right? So heat up your oil and join us in baking these Beignets! Send your results, name ecc. to Elle, who is our Kitchendiva of the month and she'll add you to a round up on her blog next month. Deadline for entering is the 29th of this month. Don't forget out to check out the beignets of the other babes (links in the side bar).

Beignets

Makes 16-18

Beignets filled with blueberries

(PRINT recipe)

7 g instant yeast

180 g warm water (about 44ºC)

50 g granulated sugar

440 g all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and baking sheet

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 TBsp unsalted butter, softened

118 ml whole milk (I used a lot less, so add with care)

1 large egg

(filling your choice: bleuberries, banana, pineapple...ecc)

2 liter safflower oil, for bowl and frying

Confectioners' sugar and cinnamon sugar, for coating.

Beignets with blueberry filling

Using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together yeast, warm water, and granulated sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and nutmeg. In a smaller bowl, lightly whisk together soft butter and egg using a fork before adding the milk, then add this mixture to the yeast mixture while mixing yeast mixture on medium speed. Mix in 1 1/2 cups flour mixture to combine, then add 1 3/4 cups more flour mixture and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in remaining 1/4 cup flour mixture by hand until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. (Since my margarine has more water in it than butter does, I used more flour at this point.)

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Use a bench scraper to cut dough in half if making both banana and regular beignets. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out on half of dough to  24 cm square. Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut dough into 8 cm squares. Transfer squares to a floured baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for 30 minutes.

Filled beignets; it's like making ravioli

Roll out second half of dough into a 22 x 33 cm rectangle. Place banana slices in groups of four slices on one half of the dough, leaving a small space between groups of bananas. Fold the other half of the dough over the bananas. Press down with the edge of your hand between the groups of bananas to seal and cut between the groups, using the pizza wheel or sharp knife. Transfer banana squares to a floured baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium pot or deep-fryer until it registers 350 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Working in batches, add a few squares to the oil and fry, rolling them around constantly with a slotted spoon or spider, until golden brown all over, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer beignets to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Coat with confectioners' sugar (regular beignets) or cinnamon sugar (banana beignets), and repeat process with remaining dough and more confectioners' sugar. Serve warm.                                                                         

(adapted from Martha Stewart's blog)