Some of my fondest memories include donuts. I remember going camping with my parents and picking up donuts in the morning for breakfast. But before the pandemic, this local donut shop did a hot donut window in the summer. They serve fresh out of the fryer donuts from their window, and have the best brioche donuts. This is where I hung out with my best friend and her husband for the first time. So basically, donuts and I have created a lot of good memories. These vegan brioche donuts hit all the marks on what a donut should be. Fluffy, yeasty, rich, and melts in your mouth.
Now, this recipe for vegan brioche donuts is just a template for you to create awesome creations. Cut them out without the holes, and fill them with some jam, or pastry cream! Cover them in granulated sugar, top them with chocolate frosting… anything your heart desires. This is just a template for really good vegan brioche donuts. The key to these donuts is an overnight rise. It is really important you do not skip the time in the fridge. It helps these donuts develop their flavors, and also helps develop the gluten.
Brioche
A brioche dough is an enriched dough. Typically enriched of butter, milk and eggs, then rested overnight in a fridge to help develop the flavors. Obviously to make vegan brioche donuts I could not use the items listed above. So I swapped eggs for aquafaba, milk for oat milk, and refined coconut oil for the butter. This recipe all started from my vegan cinnamon roll recipe. I figured what if I fry this dough, will it be donut like? It was quite delicious but I had some tweaks. I wanted a tighter crumb, as it ended up quite airy. So I cut back on the liquids. The result is a tighter, melt in your mouth crumb.
If you couldn’t find refined coconut oil for these vegan brioche donuts, or just want to use vegan butter, the method would be a little different. Bring the vegan butter to room temperature, and mix your dough with everything minus the butter. After the dough comes together in the stand mixer, on low speed, add in the butter in small chunks at a time. Let it fully incorporate into the dough before adding the next piece of vegan butter. Keep repeating until all the butter has been added and incorporated.
Frying
Baked donuts make me sad. There I said it. Fried donuts is the only way to go! You will need some speciality equipment to fry these donuts. The most important tool you need is a food thermometer of any kind. A candy thermometer is great, it is cheap and great to just have around. But there is a little delay in the reading of it, so I personally use a thermapen. The readout is instant, and it is great for cooking and baking.
But the investment is quite steep compared to the candy thermometer. If you really don’t want to invest in a thermometer, a trick you can use to see if your oil is hot enough, is to stick a wooden spoon in there. If the oil starts bubbling, your oil is hot enough to fry. This is really a last ditch method, as your oil could be too hot this way, and you risk burning your donuts.
Another little tip I have for you, is place your donuts on little individual parchment squares when they are going through their final proof. It will be easier to transfer them to the oil, and you can put them in without taking the paper off. It will release as the donut cooks. But do not use wax paper! These are not the same things!
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Vegan Brioche Donuts
- V
- VG
- DF
Nutrition per portion
Ingredients
- 4 cups (568g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp (8g) Instant Yeast
- 2 tsp (4g) Kosher Salt
- ¾ cup (174g) Aquafaba at Room Temperature
- ¾ cup (170g) Oat Milk, or Any Other Non-Dairy Milk, Heated to 105-110 Degrees
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (120g) Agave Syrup
- ½ cup (100g) Melted Refined Coconut Oil
- Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) Powdered Sugar
- 1-2 tbsp (15-30g) Oat Milk or Any Other Non-dairy Milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- Oil for Frying
Method
Make the Dough:- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment, add the flour, yeast, and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated.
- In a liquid measuring cup, add the aquafaba, milk, agave syrup and melted coconut oil and whisk to combine.
- With the stand mixer on low, slowly add in the milk mixture and mix until no dry spots of flour remain and the dough looks smooth, about 1-2 minutes. You may have to scrape the bottom of the bowl to fully incorporate everything. The dough will be sticky and wet, have faith this transform overnight.
- Scrape the dough into an oiled bowl, cover in plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes perform a series of 6-8 folds. If you have ever made sourdough bread, these folds are the same method. Start by grabbing a section of the dough and gently pulling up and folding back onto itself in the middle. Rotate the bowl and continue until you have folded all the dough back onto itself. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and repeat this series of folds another 3 times, every 30 minutes for a total rise time of 2 hours, and 4 foldings.
- Place the covered bowl in the fridge overnight, or up to 24 hours.
- When ready to make donuts, take the dough out of the fridge and give it a quick knead on a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the top and cover in plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes. While you are waiting, cut individual squares of parchment paper so each donut has their own square.
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until the dough is ½ inch thick. Flour a donut cutter and cut each donut, re-rolling the scraps as necessary. Place the donuts on a square of parchment and place on a baking sheet, and cover in plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- 20 minutes before the donuts are done rising, heat up 2-3 inches of a high smoke point neutral oil, such as canola oil, in a heavy-bottomed pan or dutch oven. Heat over medium high heat, until the oil reaches a range of 340°-365° F, then lower the heat to medium. Using a thermometer will help here as you will be able to keep a close eye on the temperature of your oil.
- While you're waiting for your oil to heat up, make the glaze. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. You want the glaze to be slightly thick but still run off the whisk. Adjust as necessary with more oat milk. Set aside.
- Place a wire rack over a large baking sheet, and set aside. This is where you will place the finished donuts to drain off their oil.
- Begin frying the donuts in batches of 2 or 3, be careful not to overcrowd. Fry the donut for about 1-2 minutes minute until it is golden brown, and flip with a spider or heat proof slotted spoon, fry for an additional 1-2 minutes. The donuts will take about 2-4 minutes total to cook. Once golden brown, remove from the hot oil with the spider and place on the wire rack to let slightly cool. As you are frying donuts, make sure your temperature does not go about 375°. Adjust the heat as necessary.
- While the donuts are still slightly warm, dip them in the glaze. Enjoy immediately, or wait for them to cool down fully and the glaze to set up!
Do you recommend sweetened or unsweetened oat milk for this recipe?