Maple Bacon Cream Baked Donuts

All right, ladies, gents, and others. I’m back, and I brought donuts!

A lot of people, my husband included, are scared of baking because people say it needs to be exact, without deviation, or all will be lost. Here’s what I, as an amateur but enthusiastic baker, have discovered.

Read the recipe. Then do what you want. Within reason.

Some recipes, like banana bread, are basically foolproof. A recipe may say “3 medium-sized” bananas, but there’s no exact measurement for that. As long as you use 3 normalish-looking bananas, your banana bread will be delicious. Others, like delicate cakes, are less so. Too much flour can weigh the thing down; a little underbaking might result in a hole in the middle.

These donuts fall somewhere in the middle. That is, four test bakes revealed that they WILL bake. For instance, I forgot the salt once; they still baked. However, I found that it it was a little tricky to achieve the perfect inside-donut texture. A couple of batches were more like sweet rolls — still delicious, but less like a donut.

The one thing I didn’t try was an overnight rise, as opposed to a quick one in a warm place. I have a suspicion that if you knead the dough and put it in the fridge overnight, you’ll find the dough to be even more flavorful, a la this recipe.

One more thing — this is the first baked donut recipe I’ve met that doesn’t require a special donut pan! Also, check this out if you’re worried about the filling process (it’s really not as tricky as it looks).

Maple Bacon Cream Baked Donut Recipe Notes

This recipe is a little more specific in places than what I usually post. Here’s a few guidelines to help you out.

Ingredient temperature

The most important thing to remember is DO NOT HEAT ANYTHING SO HOT THAT YOU KILL THE YEAST. Remember, yeast is aliiiive, and it can overheat and die. That said, having warm ingredients encourages the rise.

Here’s a general rule: if you’re making these same-day, then ideally you want melted-not-boiling-butter, warm milk, and room temperature eggs. This will encourage a faster rise. However, if you’re doing this overnight, then don’t worry about the milk and the eggs. Just make sure the butter isn’t too hot.

Fats

I recommend whole milk and good butter (that is, higher fat, or European style). That’s because fat in baking creates tenderness. If you use skim milk, it’ll probably still work but you might lose a little bit of tenderness.

Covering the dough

I also learned this week that there’s a reason to cover the first rise with plastic and the second with cloth. It’s because plastic holds in moisture, which is prevents a “skin” from forming and encourages the dough to poof up more. After you’ve cut out the donuts, a cloth allows that skin to form a bit, which can help the donuts keep their final shape. But again, it probably won’t make or break the batch if you use plastic or cloth for both.

Eating

Fresh donuts are best donuts! If you need to make these ahead of time, the baked and glazed donuts will keep, covered, for about 12 hours. Then pipe in the filling right before serving.

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Baked donut recipe adapted from Natasha’s Kitchen; maple glaze recipe adapted from Bigger Bolder Baking.

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