Homemade Beignets (Baked Not Fried) - Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking Ep. 123

Hi Bold Bakers! When I was reading through your comments trying to decide what the next Big & Bold episode would be, I saw that you requested beignets a lot. Very similar to a donut, it's traditionally a fried treat, however we are going to do our own Big & Bold version and make it baked. So let's get started. A lot of people know beignets from the famous Cafe Du Monde restaurant in New Orleans. They serve them morning, noon, and night piled high with icing sugar. I have never been there but I have been to Disneyland where they also serve them shaped like Mickey. We are going to make it today, it's really easy, it's a yeasted dough that can all be mixed by hand. We're going to start out by mixing up our yeast. So in a jug, we're going to add in some blood temperature water. You can always check if it's blood temperature because you can put your finger in it. If you don't feel the water around it, it's blood temperature. You need that warmth in the water to help the yeast grow. Into the water, scatter over your dried yeast. Any type of dried yeast you have at home is totally fine. I love that smell, I love the smell of fermenting and yeast and bread making, it's my favorite. And then go in and just stir it up and get that yeast to dissolve. Yeast feeds on sugar and will help our dough to rise so in a few minutes, you'll probably see this mix actually foaming up a little bit. We're going to set this mix aside for 5 minutes and continue with the rest of our ingredients. For this next step, you want to have a large bowl because we're actually going to mix and proof our dough in the same bowl so you want to give it a lot of room. So we're going to crack in an egg, add in some vanilla, salt for flavor. Always salt in doughs, it's important. And then some evaporated milk. So I looked at a lot of recipes and most of them required evaporated milk. I think it's because of a little bit of sweetness and creaminess so make sure you add that in. And then just give this mix a little whisk up together. So into these wet ingredients, we are going to add in our yeasted mix. Now I want you to have a little look at the top here. Do you see that foam? That means that the yeast is alive. So we're just going to pour that straight into this. Give it a bit of a whisky whisk. Now next we're going to add in some melted butter. Now the important thing about adding in melted butter is make sure it's at room temperature. You don't want it too hot otherwise it will set on top of your wet ingredients. So melt it when you first start making your beignets and it'll be good to go. So keep whisking and pour that in there. Lovely. We're almost done with our dough. The next thing we have to add in is our flour. So we're just going to add in half of it. Don't ever be afraid of working with yeasted doughs. It is the easiest thing to do. And lots of times you can mix them by hand just like these ones. And then just stir that in until you get a really wet, soggy dough. Ok, we have our nice, soggy, wet dough here. And then go ahead and add in the rest of your flour. And then just mix it in with a spatula or a wooden spoon until your dough starts to come together. One thing I like about this dough is that it's fast and you can mix it by hand. Bring your dough together as best you can with your spatula but you'll get to a point where you just have to get stuck in with your hands and bring it all together. I always find it easier to work with your hands with dough because then you know what's going on. You know if you've added too much liquid, you need a little bit more. You just find out straight away. And bread dough and yeasted doughs is more of a hands-on kind of a technique anyway. Just give it a quick little knead in the bowl until it all comes together and there's no dry bits left. No matter what dough or pastry you are making, one really easy way to tell if you're on the right path is if you have a nice dough at the end and a clean bowl. Clean bowl always means you're on the right track. So you will notice that this beignet dough is a tiny bit sticky. That's the nature of it. We are going to pop it back in the same bowl that we mixed it in to let it proof. We're going to tightly cover it with some cling wrap. Making sure no air gets in there. And then we are going to lay a tea towel on top and this keeps it nice and warm during the proofing stage. So now what we're going to do is set our dough aside for two hours and let it proof. You want to see it double in size. And then we're ready to use it. So it has been two hours and if you take a little peek at our dough, it has doubled in size. It is absolutely beautiful. This is why I love working with yeasted doughs because in a little amount of time, you can see your recipe working and growing. These are going to make beautiful beignets. Just your countertop with a little bit of flour. Stop your dough sticking. And then gently turn out your dough. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on your rolling pin to stop it sticking. And then we're going to roll it out gently to around a quarter of an inch thick. I want my beignets nice and thick. Give it a little bit of a move around your countertop to make sure it's not sticking. I get a lot of questions about what are important kitchen tools to have and I always say a ruler because I use this nearly every time I go into the kitchen. So invest in a ruler. Another important piece of kitchen equipment is a pizza roller and that's how we're going to cut our beignets. We're going to cut around an inch by an inch square. That's a good bite-sized piece for a beignet. So I like to cut all of my lines across first and then I go up and then you start to see your squares forming. Beignets are well known for this traditional square shape. A little bit like a puffy pillow. Okay, we're going to go ahead and gently lay these on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, giving each a little bit of room to proof and to bake and to grow. Once your beignets are all cut and on their tray, then we're going to have to let them sit and proof for around 35-45 minutes and this will help us yield big, lovely, puffy beignets. They need a little time to rest and to grow. So wrap a little bit of cling wrap over them and then again with your towel, just lightly placed over. Okay, so we'll come back in a little bit and check on them. So our beignets are proofed but I want to show you the telltale signs of how you know that. So not only has it risen and it's nice and soft like you can see, when you push it with your finger, it doesn't bounce back. Also, the lines that you have cut have kind of rounded out a little bit, they're a little bit softer. So that's how you can tell that it is proofed and ready for the oven. So just before we put them in, I'm going to glaze them with a little bit of milk and this will help them get a lovely golden brown color in the oven. So you might be wondering, what's the difference between beignets and doughnuts and they are quite different. There's different ingredients in them so you get a different texture in your dough and a bit of a different flavor. Okie dokie, we're glazed, we're proofed, we're ready for the oven. Bake your beignets at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius until lovely and golden brown. So I know I'm baking these today but you can fry this dough as well. All you need is a few inches of oil in a pan and fry them gently until they're lovely and golden brown. My timer just went off, my kitchen smells like warm dough so I'm pretty sure they're ready. Just look at these beautiful little beignets made from that really easy dough. If you can see, there's little bubbles on the side. That means they're lovely and airy and soft in the middle. I really wish you guys could smell these because they absolutely smell divine. So now while your beignets are still warm, fresh out of the oven, our next step is to coat them in a bit of butter and then we're going to dust them with icing sugar. I like to add butter for extra flavor and also give the icing sugar something to stick onto. And then liberally, don't be shy with the icing sugar, dust your beignets. Traditionally they are served with mounds of icing sugar. Beignets are best eaten freshly baked and nice and warm. I'm going to dip some in some chocolate sauce that I have and I'm also going to serve it with some dark coffee just like they do in Café Du Monde. This is like a soft pillow of heaven. Just look at that texture. This lovely buttery, airy dough that gives you a beautiful beignet at the end. You do not have to go as far as New Orleans or to Disneyland to enjoy these famous treats. Let me know what you think in the comments below because I really hope you like them. If you like my Big and Bold recipes, then make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any of my upcoming videos. I'll see you back here next Thursday for more Bigger Bolder Baking.