Executive Pastry Chef Julie Elkind (BLT Steak, New York, New York) Yields 1 dozen large doughnuts
2⅛ cups whole milk
1½ ounces fresh yeast
4 eggs
7⅞ cups bread flour
1⅜ cups confectioners’ sugar
3¼ teaspoons kosher salt
½ tablespoon ground nutmeg
Zest of 2 navel oranges (see Chef’s Tips on citrus zest, this page)
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
Vegetable or soy oil, as needed
½ pound fresh blueberries (wild are the best)
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
½ cup fresh orange juice
2 vanilla beans, seeded
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water (slurry for thickening purposes)
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup light brown sugar
2½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
Warm your milk no hotter than 92°F (if too hot, it can kill your yeast, and will not allow the dough to rise). Place the yeast into warm milk and mix until combined. Place into a stand mixer with a dough hook, turn to medium speed, and add the eggs.
Combine all the dry ingredients and zest in a separate bowl and add this mixture to the milk mixture. Mix until it forms sticky dough. Lastly, add the butter to the mixture.
Leave the mixer on medium speed until the dough begins to pull away from the bowl (approximately 12 minutes).
Place the dough in a greased bowl and place in a refrigerator until it doubles in size (at least 6 hours).
Once the dough is proofed (doubled in size), remove from the bowl; do not knead the dough. Place on a well-floured, flat work surface and roll about ⅓-inch thick.
Cut the doughnut dough with a round ring cutter (or desired shape cookie cutter). Fry in 350°F vegetable or soy oil until dark golden brown on both sides.
Place all the ingredients (except the cornstarch and water) in a medium sauce pot and bring to a boil for 5 minutes until it starts to thicken.
Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl to create a slurry (will look like whole milk).
Pour into the blueberry filling and whisk until the filling becomes thick (should heavily coat the back of a spoon). Place in a bowl and allow it to cool.
To fill the doughnuts, place a pastry tip or tube into a pastry bag or in the bottom corner of a large plastic freezer bag. Fill the bag with the filling and twist the opposite end of the bag closed. Then use the fitted tube to puncture a hole into the bottom of each doughnut and squeeze the bag until the doughnut is full with filling.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Pour into a shallow pan large enough to hold the doughnut. Completely cover each doughnut in this mixture.