Every once in a while, I crave doughnuts. Not those heavy cake donuts but ones that are light and airy (so I can eat more than one)— the bomboloni. This Italian doughnut is traditionally coated in sugar and stuffed with chantilly cream. This is the perfect combination and beats store bought doughnuts every time!
In this recipe, I stuffed each bomboloni with lemon curd cream. ( bomboloni recipe from Laboratorio Massari) Enjoy!
Bomboloni (Italian doughnut)
Ingredients
bomboloni dough
- 250 grams bread flour
- 250 grams all-purpose flour
- 75 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 (7g) package dry instant yeast (or 20g fresh cake yeast)
- 7 grams salt
- 3 large whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 110 grams lukewarm water
- zest orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- granulated sugar (for coating)
lemon curd cream
- 1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
Dough
- Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water and wait for it to bloom.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (with a dough hook), combine everything except for one whole egg. Beat on medium for 5 minutes, then high for 5 more minutes.
- Add the last egg and beat on medium until a smooth and elastic dough is formed. (add flour if the dough is too sticky)
- Knead by hand until you are happy with the consistency. Form the dough into a loose ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours in a warm area (until tripled in size).
- After the first rise, knead the dough, roll it to .5 inch thickness and cut out circles with a cookie cutter or water glass.
- Transfer the circles to a baking sheet, spray with water, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow them to rise for an hour and a half (triple in size).
- Heat vegetable oil to 170-180C.
- Fry around 4 bomboloni at a time for 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Remove them and immediately transfer to a bowl with granulated sugar. Toss the bomboloni so that they are evenly coated with sugar.
Cream filling
- (make this filling while you are waiting for the bomboloni to rise)
- Place a mesh strainer over a bowl and set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan whisk together the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, lemon juice, and salt.
- Place the sauce pan on low heat and add in the butter cubes. Whisk constantly while the butter melts.
- Increase to medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture becomes thicker. (around 5 minutes)
- Remove from heat and immediately press the curd through the strainer.
- Cool and refrigerate.
- In a stand mixer, whisk the cream and sugar until medium soft peaks. Place in fridge to firm before using.
- When both the curd and cream are cold, fold the lemon curd into the cream making sure not to knock air out.
- Place the cream into a piping bag fitted with a piping tip, or a ziplok bag and cut a hole at the tip.
Assembly
- Take a bomboloni, insert the piping tip into it, and pipe the cream until the bomboloni is heavier and seems to be fully filled.
- Repeat with all the bomboloni.
Notes
When filling, if using a ziplok, you can take a toothpick or a straw to burrow a hole into the bomboloni and make it easier to fill.
