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Hi, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com and today we have Pumpkin Focaccia Donuts. That's right. I'll show you something I learned from my grandmother as a child, adding a seasonal twist. So, when I was growing up, every time my family made focaccia or pizza, my grandmother would save some of the dough and then fry it, roll it in sugar, and serve it as dessert. This was one of my favorite treats, and I hope it becomes one of yours. To begin, we will make a very simple no- knead dough: pour yeast into warm water and leave for 10 minutes, then add pumpkin puree. Of course, we need pureed puree from a can.
That's right, the only ingredient should be pumpkin. We'll add a little sugar, a good helping of olive oil, and three- quarters of what we in the industry call pumpkin spice. This is ground ginger, cinnamon, and freshly ground nutmeg. The fourth spice we don't add is ground cloves; I chose not to include it, but you can add it if you want. That's all, finally add the top- grade flour and a pinch of salt. Then take the handle of a wooden spoon and mix everything together-it's much easier and cleaner than doing it with your hands. But be warned: about halfway through the process, the mixture will become thicker and harder to mix. But don't give up. Just keep going, and I promise, the dough will become softer. In a minute or so you will get a
mass like this. When we do this, we will take a dough scraper or spatula to clean the dough. Then we will go around the edges of the bowl to clean it from the inside. Once this is done, cover the dough and leave it for exactly 20 minutes, then open it and stretch and fold it for the first time as usual-after wetting your hand with water first. We will run our hand along the side of the bowl, grab a little dough, and stretch it upwards. Then turn the bowl a few centimeters and repeat the same thing. We'll do this six or seven times to start to form the structure of the dough. And because the dough is so wet and sticky, it's almost impossible to knead, so it's best to use a series of additions. And once we do that and clean the sides of the bowl, we'll
cover it again and wait another 20 minutes. And then we repeat the same process. By then, the dough will have been fermenting for about 40 minutes, so it will become much lighter and more elastic. And very pleasant to the touch. And since we should have developed enough gluten by this point, once this stage is complete we can turn the dough over. And it should gather into a relatively docile ball. And then we'll cover it again and wait another 20 minutes. After that, we will perform the final assembly. This time it will be the so-called " coil fold". To do this, we will wet both hands. Take the dough from both sides and lift it up. And our invisible friend gravity will pull the dough down.
We will allow the front edge of the dough to wrap under the bottom. Then we wet our hands again and repeat. Again allowing the edge to wrap under the bottom. And then we will turn the bowl 180 °. And we'll do another spiral fold on this side. Then we will rotate the bowl 90° and do it again. Then we'll turn the bowl over and do it one last time. With each such folding, it will stretch less as the gluten becomes stronger. But that's good. That's why we do it. Then we will cover it and let it rest for 15 minutes. After which it will be ready to be divided into portions and shaped. But before we do that, we'll take some olive oil and grease the work surface with it. Then take a bowl and put the dough in it. After that, grease your hands with olive oil
and squeeze the air out of the dough, which is called degassing. By doing this, we simultaneously give it a rectangular shape, which will make it easier to divide into four parts. I will do this with an oiled kitchen scraper. But you can also use a pizza knife. And once we cut it into quarters, we'll divide each quarter into four more pieces, for a total of 16 servings. And in no case do not worry about them being perfectly identical. You know, I do n't know how many hundreds of these my grandmother made, but I've never seen two that were exactly the same size. And then, once we've cut the dough, we'll quickly form it into balls, stretching the dough on top and pinching it slightly on the bottom.
We will transfer them to a baking sheet greased with olive oil and leave them to rest for exactly 15 minutes. Of course, we can use this time to heat the oil. After 15 minutes, we will dip our fingers in olive oil and make a hole in the center of each dough ball. Then we'll take it and stretch it into a ring. But my grandmother always stretched the dough a little more before throwing it into the oil, so it became more oval. So I'll make one for Grandma, and the rest in the shape of classic donuts. But in any case, we will fry them in a layer of oil about 2.5 cm thick, heated to 175 ° C. We will fry them for about 1.5-2 minutes on each side, or until they rise nicely and turn golden brown. Of course, you can use a deep fryer, but they will still float
on the surface, regardless of the depth of the oil. So I usually fry them in a pan that requires less oil. When they are ready, we will transfer them to a plate with a paper towel to absorb excess fat for a few seconds. After that, we can transfer them to the grill while the rest is frying. Try to keep the temperature as close to 175 degrees as possible. The temperature will rise during frying, so you may need to reduce the heat a bit. We need them to not get too dark on the outside before they cook on the inside. Anyway, I fried the rest, and now we're going to let them cool before we frost them. But first, I'm going to take my grandma's focaccia doughnut, break it open, and eat it just like that -- first, because I'm hungry, and second, to show you what a wonderful
texture it has thanks to the highly hydrated dough. It was almost perfect: a crispy and chewy crust on the outside, and a very light, tender, and airy texture on the inside. It tastes like classic focaccia with a light touch of pumpkin's natural sweetness and warm spices. So I was very pleased with the result. And then I let the rest cool before covering them with what I call a spicy honey glaze. And yes, of course, that will be included in the recipe. But it's nothing more than powdered sugar, a little honey, a drop of milk, and a whole bunch of cayenne pepper. And when it is applied, if desired, we can decorate them with roasted pumpkin seeds. And a tip: to keep them
nice and green, you should brush them with oil before baking them in the oven at 300 degrees for about 12 minutes. I will also include these instructions in the written recipe. Oh, and speaking of grandma, it's worth noting that she never icing her fried dough. That's right, she just rolled it in sugar. So if you want to do the same, please do. I mean, you're a master at creating something so delicious it's hard to believe. But anyway, she didn't need to worry about contract photos, so I chose the glaze and probably applied a little too much of it. But no matter how you prepare them, you're in for a real treat. And don't take my word for it.
Michelle called them, and I quote, "The best donuts I've ever tasted." And whether you're making them just for family or bringing them to a holiday gathering, focaccia dough, especially pumpkin focaccia, really makes fantastic doughnuts, so I really hope you try making it soon. So please follow the links below for ingredient amounts, a printable recipe, and lots of other information as usual. And as always, delicious.
