Advertisement

Cinnamon-sugar doughnuts

Time45 minutes
YieldsMakes about 10 doughnuts and 16 doughnut holes.
Cinnamon-sugar doughnuts
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times )
Share
Print RecipePrint Recipe

Zoe Nathan’s life hasn’t always revolved around baking and pastries. The Los Angeles-born pastry chef, who is co-owner with her husband, Josh Loeb, of Huckleberry Café and Bakery, Rustic Canyon Wine Bar & Seasonal Kitchen, Sweet Rose Creamery and Milo and Olive, moved to New York early on to study photography and writing. But Nathan loved working with her hands and soon found herself working in kitchens. After stints at Lupa in New York City and Joe’s in Venice, she honed her craft at Tartine Bakery & Café in San Francisco and bld in Los Angeles.

Nathan is also the author of “Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets, and Recipes From Our Kitchen,” which weaves many of her recipes with fun, quirky essays about her life as a baker.

Recently, I caught up with Nathan to chat about the upcoming bake sale she and many other local pastry chefs are doing as part of this year’s Food Bowl, her current inspirations — and doughnuts.

Tell us about this bake sale.

Well, this is our first, so I’m a bit new. But I can tell you about the bake sales that we do in general and I’m hoping that this is like that. The whole like baking and gathering idea is that I’m just so happy that they’re happening, and I’m happy to support it. I love that we’re using what we love to do to raise money for things and I think it’s a really fun way to bring people together. I love the bake sale idea because it’s such a low price point that makes it feel like everybody can be involved. That’s cool. You know what I mean? So I’d be like, yeah, like those big dinners — they feel very exclusive. Even those like big food hall events, like they’re really expensive to get into, you know.

I just feel like it’s a fundamental idea that every person has a seat at the table, right? And we could make some change. You know, it’s like that Obama thing, where everybody gave what they could give: a dollar, two dollars. It’s not like, hey, can you give $2,000? Which feels like a very L.A. thing.

What are you baking?

I’m thinking doughnuts. It’s funny, we’ve done so many events in our lifetime and, well, slowly we’re coming to realize that doughnuts are just the best thing.

Doughnuts make people so happy.

Zoe Nathan, pastry chef and restauranteur

People love doughnuts any time of day.

Any time of day. It’s super fun and, you know, and we can glaze to order and make it super fun. So probably I’m thinking doughnuts.

You’re doing the sale with some great people.

They’re really taking the time to do something and I just feel really grateful for anybody who ever does this. There are so many people who have put on functions like this all over the city, and they take the time on top of all the hard work they’re doing — I really love the baking community in L.A. They’re just down and they’re doing it for the love.

Do you have any current baking inspiration?

Yeah. I’m on like a serious health kick right now, but I’m also still obsessed with baking. And so for me, I loving baking with like all the alternative flours and sweeteners. I find all that stuff really inspirational. I love the idea of like making all these things that give you these really awesome flavors, like whole grains, and they’re healthy but in a way that’s super delicious.

Advertisement
1

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the warmed milk, then the yeast and whisk by hand to combine. Beat in the eggs, then add the flours, ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together, 1 to 2 minutes.

2

Increase the mixer speed to medium-high for about 6 minutes to work the dough. Pause about every minute or so to push the dough back down into the bowl and off the hook.

3

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the butter, a little at a time, over the course of 2 minutes. Pause halfway though to scrape down the bowl and the hook. When the butter begins to blend in, increase the mixer speed to medium-high to fully incorporate the butter and bring the dough back together, 4 to 6 minutes longer.

4

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

5

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and dump it onto a clean, well-floured surface. Sprinkle more flour over the dough. Flatten the dough by hand or by rolling it to a thickness of 1 ½ to 1 ¾ inches.

6

Using a 3-inch-round cutter, cut 10 rounds and transfer them to a greased sheet pan, spacing them 1 ½ inches apart. Using a 1/2-inch round cutter, cut a small hole in each round and place them on the pan as well. Use the leftover dough to cut more holes and place them on the sheet pan too.

7

Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside to rise at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight and allow to rise in the morning, until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

8

Meanwhile, in a bowl, stir together the remaining 2 cups sugar, the cinnamon and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.

9

Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a Dutch oven or countertop fryer. Begin frying 1 test doughnut for about 2 minutes on each side, then remove it from the oven and check to see if it’s cooked through. If it’s browned on the outside but raw inside, the dough is underproofed and hasn’t risen enough. Stop frying, re-cover the doughnuts and set them aside to continue to rise and try again.

10

When the dough is ready, place each doughnut onto a long-handled skimmer, and carefully lower it into the oil. Working in batches, fry 3 to 4 doughnuts at a time until they are a nice golden brown, about 2 minutes per side, then fry all the holes at once until golden.

11

Immediately toss the doughnuts in the cinnamon-sugar and serve hot.

Adapted from a recipe by Zoe Nathan in her book, “Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets, and Recipes from our Kitchen.”