These beautiful black doughnuts will be a sure hit at Halloween. There’s nothing crazy here. It’s just a very quick and simple recipe with added activated charcoal. You can find activated charcoal in my Amazon storefront, but even your local supermarket may stock it. It is generally used for alleviating a belly ache in the case of food poisonings and such. It is totally safe to consume for almost everyone.
This recipe contains a very small amount of it. Less than half of a gram per doughnut. Saying that, it can prevent some medicines from being absorbed by the stomach, so if you’re on medication I’d suggest consulting with your doctor just in case.
Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.
Ingredients
For the dough –
300g (10.6oz) white bread flour
6g (0.21oz) vanilla paste
6g (0.21oz) salt
30g (1oz) sugar
50g (1.75oz) melted butter
5g (0.17oz) instant dry yeast or 6g (0.21oz) active dry yeast or 15g (0.53oz) fresh yeast
5g (0.17oz) activated charcoal
1 medium egg (50g; 1.75oz)
140g (4.9oz) milk
Oil for frying
To fill and top –
300g (10.6oz) raspberry jam or any other jam that you like
Icing sugar
To learn more about no-knead bread dough temperature control click here.
The flour I use has a protein content of 13%. If your flour is weaker, then you may need to lower the hydration.
If you are using active dry yeast, then you may need to let it sit in the water for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients or else it could take a lot longer to raise the dough.
If you are curious about why the dough contains butter, egg, and sugar, click the links to learn more about the effects those ingredients have on bread dough.
Method
- In a large bowl combine the milk, yeast, salt, sugar, vanilla, egg, charcoal, and melted butter. Mix well to dissolve the salt and sugar completely. Add the flour and mix to a dough. *Desired dough temperature around 24C (75F). If your dough is warmer, then it will ferment more rapidly. If it is cooler, then it will take longer. Adjust fermentation time accordingly.
- Cover and ferment for 30 minutes.
- Fold #1.
- Ferment for 30 minutes.
- Fold #2.
- Ferment for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Place on an oiled tray.
- Cover and proof for 1 hour.
- Fry the doughnuts at 170C (340F) for around 5 minutes flipping each minute.
- Leave to drain and cool.
- Poke a hole in each doughnut and fill with jam. Stencil and serve.
Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.
Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.
