Maple-glazed doughnuts with bacon

You can skip the bacon entirely here if you prefer but that salty, meaty crunch really does take these bad boys into another stratosphere of flavour altogether. (Be sure to use thinly sliced, streaky bacon here and avoid overly wet bacon; this makes all the difference in it cooking to ultimate crispness). Make smaller doughnuts if you like, too. You’ve got toast bread for a few mornings!

Credit: China Squirrel

• makes

  6

• prep

  1 hour

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 100 g unsalted butter, chopped
• 125 ml (½ cup) cold milk
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) maple syrup
• 1 large egg, beaten well
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 ½ tsp instant dried yeast
• 600 g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• vegetable oil, for cooking

• 80 ml (⅓ cup) warm water

Glaze

• 165 g (1 ⅓ cups) icing sugar, sifted
• 60 ml (¼ cup) maple syrup
• 1 tbsp boiling water, approximately

Bacon chips

• 150-175g rindless streaky bacon

Rising time 1 hour

Instructions

To make the bacon chips, preheat the oven to 180 ˚C Place the bacon in a single layer on a wire cooling rack, then place the rack inside, or over, a large roasting dish. Cook for 40 minutes, or until the bacon is very dark and crisp. Cool, then crumble the bacon coarsely into a bowl. (Bacon can be cooked a day in advance and stored in an airtight container).

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat then stir in the milk and maple syrup; the mixture should be warm but if it is still hot, allow it to cool a little. Add the egg and yolk and whisk to mix well. Meanwhile,place the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle over the yeast. Stand for about 6 minutes or until foamy - dont worry if the yeast doesn't completely soften as it will dissolve later. Stir the yeast into the warm milk mixture in the pan.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre then add the milk mixture and stir until a coarse, soft dough forms.  Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic, take care not to incorporate too much extra flour as the dough should be soft. Alternatively, knead the mixture in an electric mixer using the dough hook.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Stand in a warm draught-free place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size - time will vary, depending on the ambient temperature of your kitchen. Use your fist to knock the dough down then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a neat rectangle. Roll the dough  to 1.5 cm thickness. Using an 8 cm round cutter, cut out 6 rounds. Using a 3.5 cm cutter, cut out rounds from the middle of each. Carefully transfer the dough rounds to a baking paper-lined tray, leaving a little space between each for spreading. Cover with a tea towel and place in a draught-free, warm place for 30 minutes.

Heat enough oil to come 5 cm up the side of a large, deep frying pan, or a large saucepan, to 170 ˚C. Cook the doughnuts, in batches, for 1 minute or until golden on the underside, then carefully turn over and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until cooked through. Watch that the oil temperature does not increase too much or the doughnuts will brown too quickly. Remove cooked doughnuts to a tray lined with paper towel to absorb excess oil, and then repeat the process with the remaining dough rounds. Cool cooked doughnuts.

To make the glaze, whisk together the sugar, maple syrup and boiling water until completely smooth, adding a little more water if the mixture is too thick and a little more sugar if it is too thin; it should have a light, coating consistency. Dip each doughnut into the glaze to coat the top half of each. Place, icing side up, on a tray.  Scatter some of the bacon over each while the glaze is still a little wet. Stand until the glaze is firm then serve. Doughnuts are best eaten on the day they are made. 

Note

• There really are no rules here – EXCEPT the one that says you can’t re-roll the dough scraps to cut out more rounds – these will fry up all wonky. Just knead any leftover dough together, form it into a round shape, let it rise and bake it for 180°C until cooked through.

Photography, styling and food preparation by china squirrel.

This recipe is part of our 10 ways with maple syrup column. View previous 10 ways with… columns and recipes.

When she doesn’t have her head in the pantry cupboard, Leanne Kitchen finds time to photograph food and write cookbooks. You can view her work on her website.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.