605MAGAZINE.COM (page 33)
DELISH DELIGHTS
“A New Orleans style beignet is usually cut into random shapes, fried, and then put in a bag with a lot of powdered sugar. This is more of a French style. Essentially, it is a donut, but the dough is richer and lighter. We fry them up and then we roll them in a vanilla bean sugar. When people look at our beignets, they see the outside and think it’s going to be sweet, but it’s not, because the dough isn’t sweet. Then the raspberry jam offsets it. It has a nice acidity to it and a bright fruit flavor.”
CH PATISSERIE BEIGNET Makes about 25 Bread Flour 482 g Yeast (dry) 7g Salt 14 g Sugar 57 g Whole Eggs 7 each Butter (room temp) 200 g In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, place the flour, salt, sugar and mix for 10 seconds. Add the dry yeast and mix. With the mixer on low add the whole eggs. Mix for about 2 minutes.
If the dough looks dry, add a little milk. Add the butter and mix on medium speed for 3-4 minutes or until the dough looks smooth and elastic. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a clean bowl. Cover with plastic and place in a warm spot for 2 hours, or until it doubles in size. Punch the dough down and recover with plastic and place in the refrigerator overnight. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut it into 30 g pieces. Round the
dough into balls and place on a pan to proof. (About 30-60 minutes) As the dough is proofing, heat 4 qt of oil in a sauce pot to 340 F. Carefully add 4 pieces of dough to the oil and fry for 3 minutes on each side. Remove the beignets from the oil and roll in sugar. Repeat with remaining dough. Eat them plain and dunk them in Parisian Hot Chocolate, or fill with your favorite jam.