Davin

After living in an apartment complex where I couldn't as easily have everyone over for big potlucks while enjoying the perfect Bay Area weather in any season, a backyard was my only requirement for my new home. This backyard now comes with a firepit, treehouse, gym rings, misc wooden furniture, and Kevin's favorite deadlift set up. All thanks to the "builder roommate" as I affectionately refer to him to all my friends. Davin identifies as Finnish. I met him via Craigslist. It's fine; it was for a roommate ad. At the time, like I said, I was just looking for a backyard again. My own bathroom and random roommates I ended up liking were just bonuses. Meanwhile I successfully wormed my way into acceptance by keeping the kitchen table stocked with sweets. 

So Davin's "dumpling" is actually a stuffed donut. My loose definition of dumpling/bun is merely heterogeneous filling encased in carby wrapper...and so with that, my boundaries are expanded.

Davin used to crush cylinders of Ritz crackers and washed them down with large glasses of juice during soccer preseason. In the August heat and humidity, they practiced three times a day so coach asked them to consume as much salt as possible. So I ground up a sleeve of Ritz to mix into the brioche donut dough (subbing out the same weight in flour). Meanwhile I made a chunky apple + brown sugar + peanut butter filling. Did you eat those Ritz peanut butter sandwiches growing up? Consider that in donut form... with apples added for ~health~. 

 

Donuts are still a work in progress for me. Made more complicated by my perpetual problem of always juggling my variables each time I try another recipe. And there are a lot of variables already to donut making. Beyond ingredients and the recipe itself, there are a couple proofing steps, which require careful temperature control. Then there's shaping. And finally frying. Oh wait, also glazing.

Ingredients: I'm a fan of brioche donuts. The dough is also just so supple and wonderful to work with. But the key here is to knead the dough sans butter to allow sufficient hydration and gluten formation before beating the butter in to get that final tender crumb. I work my Kitchenaid pretty hard when it's donut day, which should follow that the dough itself is probably also being worked hard, so you don't really need to bring you cold ingredients up to room temperature prior to mixing.

Proofing: A solo venture in donut making can be tricky especially when you're timing the second rise. I've noticed slight changes from my first to last donut as I'm frying them, especially when it's warmer in the kitchen. You don't want an underproofed donut or it will turn out dense, and you don't want an overproofed donut or it will collapse and get all greasy. As for the first rise, I let it go overnight in the fridge for better flavor development.

Shaping: Donut scraps have a limited half life. Apparently you can re-roll them but it requires a lot of resting time. You're better off getting as many donut holes as you can from the first go - and definitely make sure to use a sharp cutter to avoid twisting. I decided to shape these Ritz guys like I do milk buns since I was filling them before frying. I'm not sure if this is what interfered with getting a more even crumb during the second rise, but that's my working theory. Also since I stuffed them first, I didn't have as much leeway with the dough and the thickness made it difficult to cook all the way through.

Frying: Optimal frying temperature is around 370-375F with 1-2min per side. Colder and you might end up with a greasy mess as the oil gets trapped and absorbed by the dough. Hotter and it'll burn before it cooks all the way through. Be sure to use enough oil so that your donut is floating at the surface. Mine sadly all ballooned up during frying (which is more an indication that they didn't rest properly).

Glazing: Donuts are best glazed fresh out of the fryer when they are cool enough to handle but still hot enough to allow the glaze to settle into a thin even layer. And if for some reason you can't finish a dozen donuts in one sitting, do not store glazed donuts in air tight containers or the glaze will begin to weep, soaking into the dough. For sugar dusting, toss donuts in sugar right away after draining a bit. I opted to dust mine in more Ritz crumbs, but they didn't adhere as evenly *commence important donut coating investigative work*.

So with that in mind, next time I need to get rid of these cavernous pockets.

Things I would do differently: puree apple filling and pipe in post-frying instead. Figure out how to make Ritz dust stick better and more evenly. Steep Ritz in milk as well to up Ritz flavor.

Davin's complete list:

ritz crackers

so much cheese

fruit juice

graham crackers

peanut butter

apples

wheat thins

m&ms

skittles

SO much chex mix