Crouu-Doughnuts | Kronuts From Scratch

Kronut is a croissant-doughnut pastry, which is an incorporation of making both yeasted doughnuts as well puff pastry and the final product needs to fry in oil. People in New York stands in long line to get these delicious treat.This recipe is a 3 day process with loads of work but end product was so delicious, I am really excited with this baking partners challenge recipe also bit tensed till getting the final outcome. Thanks Swathi for this wonderful challenge. If you are beginner in baking try with minimal quantity. Apart from making kronuts I prepared pastry cream filling and vanilla glaze to top it, all are included in this recipe.

Recipe adapted from BootLeg cronut

Makes around 16 nos (I halved the quantity and got 8 Numbers)

Short Description

I First day makes dough

Day 1/Ingredients for dough
All purpose flour –  3 Cups/510grams + more for dusting the work table
Sugar – 1/2 Cup/100grams
Milk – 1/2 cup/150grams+2 Tbsp (I used 2% milk)
Eggs – 2 Jumbo Size (If you are using large eggs use 3)
50g/ 3.5 tablespoon unsalted butter
Rapid rise Yeast/ Active dry yeast/ instant yeast – 1 packet (Or) 2 ¼ tsp (I went for Active Yeast)
Salt – 1tsp/7grams

II Second day incorporate/laminate butter into the dough

Day 2/For butter layer
Ingredients
Unsalted butter – 1 n 1/4 Cup/295gms+1/2 tablespoon (2 sticks and little more than a ½ stick)
(If you can find European style butter like pluegra that will be good)

III Third day fry the dough/Crouu-doughnuts/kronuts
Ingredients
Canola oil:  2-4 cup
Water: 200 g for brushing on the top
Cinnamon sugar (400g sugar and 100g cinnamon, I skipped this)

Day 1/Dough Preparation

• Keep 50 g butter and eggs at room temperature 30 minutes before dough preparation.
• Combine the dry ingredients —flour, salt, sugar in the wide bowl/bowl of stand mixer (Pic 1).
• Heat milk to microwave for high for 30 seconds and add butter that way butter melts well (Pic 1).
• When milk butter is lukewarm add yeast to it and give a nice stir (Pic 1).
• Then to the dry mixture add butter milk mixture and eggs.
• Knead well with your hand make for about 10-15 minutes(Pic 2) or until you get smooth shiny dough.
• Remove the dough and tuck under edges to form a ball.
• Coat a bowl with any oil of your choice and place the dough in it with seams down.
• Cover tightly with clear plastic wrap, making sure it is in contact with the dough.
• Place dough in a warm area and allow it to double in size (Pic 3).
• This should take 60 minutes. Once dough has “proofed, or double in  size ” transfer to refrigerator to overnight (In sealed bag).
• When cooled in refrigerator it sets well (Pic 4).

Notes

1. If using fresh yeast, mix with room temperature milk beforehand to activate yeast.
2. If using stand mixer mix on low speed for 3 minutes, or until everything is incorporated.
3. Mix on higher speed for another 8 minutes.

Day 2/How to Pound the Butter for puff pastry

• Next day start incorporating the butter to the dough.
• Cut the cold butter 295g lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slabs.
• Arrange the pieces on a piece of parchment or waxed paper to form a 5- to 6-inch square, cutting the butter crosswise as necessary to fit (Stepwise Picture 1 below).
• Top with another piece of parchment or waxed paper (Pic 2).
• With a rolling pin, pound the butter with light, even strokes.
• As the pieces begin to adhere, use more force.
• Pound the butter until it’s about 4 x 6 inches square and then trim the edges of the butter (Pic 2).
• Put the trimmings on top of the square and pound them in lightly with the rolling pin.
• Adjust the squares using knife and don’t handle with hand (Pic 2).
• Place in refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours.
• Flour the area well so that dough won’t stick.

Laminate the dough

• Unwrap and lay the dough on a lightly floured work surface.
• Roll into a 10-1/2-inch square,Brush excess flour off the dough.
• Remove the butter from the refrigerator, If not, refrigerate a bit longer.
• Unwrap and place the butter on the dough so that the points of the butter square are centered along the sides of the dough.
• Fold one flap of dough over the butter toward you, stretching it slightly so that the point just reaches the center of the butter.
• Repeat with the other flaps, then press the edges together to completely seal the butter inside the dough (A complete seal ensures butter won’t escape).
• Prick with fork if you see any air bubbles while working with dough.

1st Turn

• Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough, Add flour whenever needed.
• With the rolling pin, firmly press the dough to elongate it slightly and then begin rolling instead of pressing, focusing on lengthening rather than widening the dough and keeping the edges straight.
• Turn the dough so that a shorter end faces you (Pic 3).
• Roll to expand the length of the dough, making sure that the dough doesn’t stick to the table (Pic 4).
• When you have a rectangle about 21 x 9 inches (Pic 5), fold the top third of the rectangle down (Pic 6) and fold the bottom third up to cover it (Pic 7).
• Turn the dough 90 degrees so that the opening resembles a book (Pic 8).

2nd Turn. Try to do this turn right away, but if the dough is too warm, wrap in film and place in the refrigerator until it cools. Repeat rolling, just like the first turn, then turn 90 degrees and gently press two fingers into the lower right corner to mark the number of turns. (Marking the dough allows you to track your progress, and ensure that the orientation of the dough is correct when you remove it from the refrigerator.) Cover the dough in a parchment paper and then again with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

3rd Turn. The dough will be hard, so gently pound the dough to warm the butter. If it is too cold the butter will separate and not spread as it should. Repeat the previous steps, and turn again, marking the corner with three fingerprints. Cover dough with parchment paper and plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4th Turn. Make the final turn, repeating the steps from turns 1-3. Refrigerate overnight.

Notes

1. Don’t over work with dough with too much kneading,
2. Also don’t over work with butter, if butter starts to leaking, try to put it back in the refrigerator.

Day 3/How to Roll and punch the Dough

• Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to approximately the size of a sheet pan, 1/2 inch thick.
• Make sure the dough stays cold, without sticking to the surface.
• If it starts to stick, place in the refrigerator and roll again when cool.
• Transfer to a sheet pan with parchment paper, cover with cling film and chill before punch it.
• Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper, sprayed with PAM or oil.
• Remove dough from fridge and take two ring molds, approximately  outer molds should be 3 ½ inch and inner should be 1 ½ inch. (use you peanut bottle cap for outer mold and prescription medication bottle for inner ones) .
• Only start punching if the dough is very cold (Stepwise Pic 1 below), Otherwise, your Kronut won’t fry straight.
• Transfer half of the punched kronuts to the sheet pan, leaving room for kronuts to “proof.”
• Brush tops of the Kronut with water and set aside (Pic 2).
• Place Kronut holes on the same sheet tray, leaving enough space for them to proof without sticking to each other.
• Leave in a warm area until they have proofed, about 30 min.
• Once it is proofed (Pic 3) keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour or in the freezer for 15 minutes before frying.

Frying Kronuts

• Heat canola oil in a pot, about 3 inches high. Test oil with a pinch of flour, if flour foams it is ready for deep frying.
• Turn heat to low and place Kronuts in oil (Pic 4), 1-2 at a time, in order to avoid overcrowding the pot.
• Turn and flip Kronuts often so that they brown evenly.
• Once golden brown throughout, test one to see if it is cooked all the way through (Pic 5).
• Remove and place on paper towels, Now is a good time to prepare the Glaze
• Once it is no longer shiny transfer to a container with sugar and cinnamon and toss(I skipped it).

Notes

1. Heat oil in medium temperature and fry the kronuts in low temperature otherwise outside become too dark soon and inside won’t cook properly.
2. Gather the left over dough after punching it in to circles, freeze for a while like 15 mins and roll and again cut in to round shapes…repeat till you finish with dough.

Filling and glaze you make your favorite.

Pastry cream is one of the building blocks of a great dessert. Delicious as is, it can also be flavored in an almost infinite number of ways to create the perfect touch for your cake, pie, or pastry. This base recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar, which makes a pastry cream that’s just barely sweet. If you’re planning to use the pastry cream for a pie filling and you want it to be sweeter, increase the sugar to 3/4 cup.

Ingredients for Pastry Cream

(Can skip Whipped/Heavy Cream and go for basic custard filling as did in Choc Eclairs Recipe)

Whole Milk – 3 Cups/680g/24 Oz
Sugar – 1/2 Cup/99g/3 n 1/2 Oz
Salt – 1/4tsp
Cornstarch – 1/4 Cup/35g/1 n 1/4 Oz
Vanilla extract  – 2 tsp or Vanilla Crush or 1/2 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise
King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour – 1 Tbsp
Large egg yolks – 4 Number
Butter – 1/4 Cup/57g (1/2 stick)/2 Oz
Heavy Cream – 1 Cup/227g/8 Oz  (Whipped to soft peaks)

Method

• In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 2 1/2 cups of the milk, the sugar, salt, and the vanilla bean (If you’re using vanilla extract or Vanilla Crush, add it at the end).
• Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
• Meanwhile, whisk the cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup milk (Pic 1& 2).
• Whisk some of the hot milk mixture with the egg yolks to temper them (Pic 3).
• This keeps the yolks from turning to scrambled eggs when you add them to the simmering milk.
• Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the remaining simmering milk (Pic 4).
• Doing this through a strainer will help prevent lumps later. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture thickens (Pic 5).
• Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the butter and vanilla extract (if you’re using it).

• Rub a piece of butter over the surface of the cream, top with a piece of plastic wrap (make sure it touches the top of the pastry cream so it doesn’t develop a skin), then refrigerate until cool.To complete, fold the whipped cream into the cooled pastry cream.
• Fill the pastry cream using round tip and insert on top of the kronuts here and there (Step wise Pic 6 in above 3rd day process picture).

Easy Vanilla Glaze From King Arthur Flour

Confectioners’ sugar or glazing sugar – 1 and 1/4 Cups/142gms/5 Oz (sifted to remove any lumps)
Light corn syrup – 1 Tbsp/3/4 Oz 21g (Optional)
Butter –  1 Tbsp/1/2 Oz/14g (Melted)
Milk/Water –  1 to 2 Tbsp/1/2 to 1 Oz/14g to 28g
Vanilla extract –  1/2 tsp

Yield: about 1/2 cup glaze

Method

• To make the vanilla glaze, Stir the ingredients together, adding extra liquid or confectioners’ sugar to adjust the consistency as needed.
• Finally dip the pastry filled kronuts in the vanilla glaze (Step wise Pic 7 in above 3rd day process picture) and allow to set ie 30 minutes.
• You can make the pastry cream/filling a day before.
• I clicked the pictures as soon as it glazed 🙂