Pumpkin Pie Brioche Doughnuts

Pumpkin Pie Brioche Doughnuts! Roll them in cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar, or glaze.

It might be a little ironic to make the least healthy bread in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day but it’s true….that’s what I did. 

Well, maybe not the most unhealthy…..I mean come on this bread has whole wheat flour AND pumpkin in it so it’s totally healthy.

Disregard the fact that I fried them and then covered them in powdered sugar, cream cheese glaze, and cinnamon and sugar. Totally not important right now. The important thing is to get a bunch of friends and eat these as soon as possible.

This Saturday I hosted the first ever Pinterest White Elephant party possibly in the history of the world (considering Pinterest is so young, I’m banking on this fact). It was a glorious event. My girlfriend Olivia rocked Leah’s new Aerocinno 3 frother most of the night churning out specialty coffee’s for all of us. Turns out this thing is pretty much amazing. It got left at our house overnight and after making our coffee in the morning with it, we were more than a little reluctant to add it to the bag of goodies to return to everyone at church.

We also made buckets of homemade doughnuts….and yes in case you were wondering….they were amazing.

I used the Whole Wheat Pumpkin Brioche recipe in this fabulous book to create these little beauties. The pumpkin and spices shone through and really melded all of the flavors perfectly. They are surprisingly light and yet have the perfect density to them which is incredible considering how much whole wheat flour is in them. I actually ran out of regular flour and subbed in some extra whole wheat, even so, this was a great success in my book.

I also learned from the book that when fried at the proper temperature they absorb very little actual oil so they really aren’t that bad for you. Score.

Take away point? You can have your doughnuts and eat them too.

Unless you eat the 3 dozen or so doughnut holes that I did. At that point, no one can help you.

Then you must go for a run.

It really is fitting because it’s the end of summer and I keep trying to convince myself that it is fall. In Oregon I held a mutual appreciation and disdain for fall, it always came too soon and left too quickly. Leaving short days and cold, icy mornings and frozen fingers.

In the south, fall is where it is at. After the summer heat and humidity, any degree of coolness is greeted with open arms. Hoodie weather doesn’t really start until December here most of the time, so fall is a bit of a strange layering experience here as it heats back up quickly in midday and you are threatened with suffocation. But slowly jeans are starting to appear, and I am even wearing my thinnest long sleeve shirt today with my jogging shorts.

It has me craving pumpkin spice lattes and boots. Don’t get me started on boots. And scarves. Mmm.

Let’s get down to business and make some doughnuts shall we?

To make the traditional shape doughnuts you will want to roll out the dough quite thin and then cut out the doughnuts. Think biscuits and you are good to go. I used an oversized glass and then just poked a hole through the middle and stretched the dough out. It turns out a bit more rustic look but I couldn’t find anything the right size for the center hole so this totally did the trick.

The excess dough is rolled up and turned into oversized doughnut holes, which we ended up loving even more than the doughnuts! No rolling pin needed, just pinch off the dough, roll it in your flour-coated hands and drop them in the oil. Little balls of heaven right there.

Heat your oil up to 360 degrees or so and toss carefully lower in up to 3 full-size doughnuts or a bunch of doughnut holes. The big thing is to put them in one at a time and let them start to get a bit of a crust before adding the next one so they don’t stick to each other. Shaking the basket as soon as you drop them will prevent them from adhering the wires. Cook til medium brown on one side and then flip to the other side. It may take a few to figure out what works best in your fryer on the current day.

Eat all the test doughnuts under the guise of “making the perfect doughnut”.

Strain on paper towels if using glaze. If you are going to toss in sugar I found that letting them drain for a second in the basket and then immediately rolling in the sugar seemed to create the best adhesion.

Roll them in cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar, or glaze. The cream cheese glaze I made was supposed to be a frosting that we were going to fill the doughnut holes with but….turns out when you are blabbering on and on with your girlfriends and dump in too much milk you end up with glaze. Weird chunky smack-you-in-the-face delicious glaze. It wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world but I didn’t feel like hauling out a blender in the middle of the party to make it anything other than tasty.

Then eat them. Please eat them hot. It’s such a crime to eat them cold. Just pile all your friends in the kitchen and let them attack the plate as they come out of the fryer. It’s a bonding experience really.

Review:

This book, like it’s predecessor, is chock full of amazing recipes, but I am loving the twist of this version with the hearty bread and healthier versions of their sweeter counterparts. In light of our newfound surge in healthy eating and exercising (without neglecting the tasty splurges of life as is so apparent in this post) this book gives a great balanced view of how to improve the nutrition of your bread without sacrificing the flavor.

I am all for cooking healthy, but if it tastes bad it just doesn’t last around our house. Not to mention the fact that if I have to make bread from scratch every day it never happens. The ability to store all of their doughs and cook them as need is hands down to the best idea to hit the bread making the world in a very long time. Everything I have cooked from their books and recipes has come out delicious and beautiful and it is SO easy! I have taught dozens of people who thought they could never make homemade bread how to do it with their method and I will forever be a huge fan.

Great job Zoe and Jeff! You hit it out of the park again!

We are thrilled to be partnering with Zoe and Jeff along with St. Martin’s Press to bring you the chance to win a copy of this great book!

Good luck!

Keeping it real:
We were provided a review copy of this book and the copy to give away to you awesome folks. We were not paid for our opinions or required to post a review in order to receive either copy.  

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Pumpkin Pie Brioche Doughnuts

Author: Healthy Bread in Five Minutes
Modified slightly to my pantry ingredients

Prep Time 2 hours

Cook Time 20 minutes

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Servings 4 loaves

Print Pin Recipe

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 4 c flour
• 3 1/2 c white wheat flour
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 1/2 T yeast
• 1 T salt
• 1 t garahm marsala
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 c honey
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 c butter-melted
• 15 oz pumpkin pie

Instructions

• Mix wet ingredients together.
• Mix dry ingredients together.
• Combine.
• Wait 2-3 hours til dough rises and collapses.
• Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours before using.
• Fry at 360-370 degrees 1-4 minutes on each side depending on fryer and dough thickness.
• Dust with powdered sugar, cinnamon/sugar, or a cream cheese glaze.

Notes

2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten is recommended to add to dry ingredients for storage but I didn't have any on hand. It has stored for several days for doughnuts and has held well. Have not tried to bake any yet.