A Baker's Field Guide to Doughnuts: More than 60 Warm and Fresh Homemade Treats

by Dede Wilson

Overview

For those of us who remember biting into a warm doughnut, fresh from the stovetop, or for the younger generation who might be experiencing that decadent confectionary for the first time, few can resist the allure of this nostalgic pastry that has become a staple in American baking. A Baker's Field Guide to Doughnuts is the newest addition to the best-selling series from baking expert, Dede Wilson. In this whimsical collection, Wilson convinces us that homemade is the only way to enjoy the best-quality doughnuts, and moreover, doughnuts are no more difficult to make than a birthday cake or a batch of cookies. Where home bakers had once been daunted by the challenges of frying, flipping, and frosting, Wilson breaks down each doughnut with step-by-step instructions that are simple enough to guide anyone through creating doughnuts that look as beautiful as the photographs throughout the book. In over 60 different recipes, she includes all the essentials like cider doughnuts, old-fashioned buttermilk doughnuts, and French crullers, but adds a healthy dose of creativity as well. In the first part of the book she provides "The Master Recipes," a variety of basic doughnuts, frostings, fillings, and glazes. The second part contains "The Field Guide," where she puts together the master recipes in decadent combinations like chocolate caramel-bourbon-pecan doughnuts, crème brulée doughnuts, and German chocolate cake doughnuts. Innumerable in their variations and just plain irresistible, doughnuts are a baking delight won't go out of style. Wilson both celebrates and reinvigorates the doughnut-baking tradition in this guide, essential to any baker's cookbook collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558327894
Publisher:	Harvard Common Press, The
Publication date:	09/18/2012
Series:	Baker's Field Guide
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	28 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Dede Wilson is the author of A Baker's Field Guide series, Christmas Cooking for Dummies, Appetizers for Dummies, and The Wedding Cake Book. She is a contributing editor to Bon Appetit and the host of Seasonings with Dede Wilson, a PBS cooking show. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

Doughnuts or donuts, however you spell this sweet treat—the mere word elicits a passionate response from devotees. A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts brings you the recipes and information you need to make airy, yeast-risen doughnuts as well as cakelike baking powder doughnuts in flavors sure to please both kids and adults, whether you’re looking for a classic or something new. You will also find doughnuts’ brethren, such as fritters, churros, and beignets, in all sorts of flavors, shapes, and sizes.

Doughnut history is murky: Some say they were brought to North America by Dutch settlers, while others point to the fact that archaeologists have found remnants of fried ring-shaped cakes in the southwestern United States, suggesting that they were made by early Native Americans. Regardless of their origin, by the 1920s doughnuts were being mass-produced in the United States and had become a standard American treat. The popularity of doughnuts was firmly cemented with the opening of large chains such as Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts in the ’40s and ’50s—in fact, most people have only ever bought their doughnuts, never made them at home.

I hope to change that in A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts, as making your own doughnuts requires mastering just a few techniques and will reward you with incredible flavor and texture that you simply won’t find in store-bought doughnuts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

How to Use This Book

The Master Recipes

Baked Doughnuts

Baked Chocolate Doughnuts

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnuts

Mashed Potato Doughnuts

Sour Cream Doughnuts

French Crullers

Chocolate Cake-Style Doughnuts

Basic Yeast-Raised Doughnuts

Chocolate Yeast-Raised Doughnuts

Krispy Kreme Kopykat Doughnuts

Hard Sugar Glaze

Soft and Sheer Sugar Glaze

Citrus Glaze

Spiced Orange Glaze

Cocoa Glaze

Dark Chocolate Glaze

Dark Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Peanut Butter Glaze

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

Cream Cheese Frosting

Pastry Cream

The Field Guide

Apple Fritters

Apricot-Cardamom Doughnuts

Banana Doughnuts with Banana Glaze

Basic Baked Doughnuts with Cinnamon Sugar

Beignets

Blackout Chocolate Doughnuts

Blueberry–Sour Cream Fritters

Boston Cream Doughnuts

Browned Butter–Brown Sugar Sour Cream Doughnuts

Vanilla Buttercream–Filled Doughnuts

Cappuccino Doughnuts with Espresso Cream Filling

Caramel-Bourbon-Pecan Doughnuts

Carrot Cake Doughnuts

Cereal Killer (aka Fiber None) Doughnuts

Cheesecake-Filled Raised Doughnuts

Chocolate Chip Ganache-Glazed Baked Doughnuts

Chocolate-Coconut Doughnuts

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Doughnuts

Chocolate Mousse Doughnuts

Chocolate–Salted Caramel Doughnuts

Chocolate–Sour Cream Doughnuts

Churros with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Cider Doughnuts

Classic Doughnut Holes

Coconut Cream–Filled Doughnuts with Coconut Glaze

Crème Brûlée Doughnuts, Version #1

Crème Brûlée Doughnuts, Version #2

Double-Chocolate Ganache Doughnuts

Double-Espresso Doughnuts

Double-Lemon Glazed Doughnuts

Doughnut Shop Glazed Doughnuts

French Crullers with Grand Marnier Glaze

German Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

Gingerbread Doughnuts with Lemon Glaze

Grape Expectations

Honey Cream–Filled Doughnuts with Milk and Honey Glaze

Lemon Meringue Doughnuts

Jelly Doughnuts

Maple-Bacon Doughnuts

Marshmallow Fluff and Peanut Butter Doughnuts

Nutella Doughnuts with Gianduja Ganache

Old-Fashioned Lard-Fried Doughnuts

Peach-Pecan Fritters with Brown Sugar Glaze

Peanut Butter–Glazed Jelly Doughnuts

Pineapple-Filled Piña Colada Doughnuts

Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts

Rainbow Sprinkle Doughnuts

Raspberry–Crème Fraîche Doughnuts

Red Velvet Doughnuts

Rich Yeast-Raised Doughnuts

Ricotta Fritters

Rose Petal French Crullers

Spiced Chocolate Doughnuts

Sweet Cream Doughnuts

Sweet Potato Doughnuts

Toasted Almond Doughnuts

Toffee Crunch Chocolate Ganache Doughnuts

Vanilla Bean Custard Doughnuts

Vegan Gluten-Free Baked Doughnuts

White Chocolate Truffle Doughnuts

Walnut Streusel–Sour Cream Doughnuts with Maple Glaze

Resources

Measurement Equivalents

Index

Editorial Reviews

"

Bakers everywhere will be just as excited as I am to have the best of Dede Wilson all in one place. From gift-worthy Christmas candies to nearly a hundred varieties of chocolate chip cookies –plus plenty more, every baker should have The Baker’s Field Guide series in the kitchen, which they’ll refer to again and again."

–David Lebovitz, author of Ready for Dessert and The Perfect Scoop

From the Publisher