(See how fluffy this tester is!)

Crispy bacon, cream cheese and salmon donuts

A savoury twist to one of our favourite snacks, these pillowy fluffy donuts are as scrumptious as their sweet counterparts.
Filled with a crispy bacon, corn, chives and whipped cream cheese mousse, these moreish bites are fun to eat. Complete with more crispy bacon or salmon slices as garnishes, they are great on shared platters too.
If you want an extra layer of flavour, opt for the garlic and parsley butter instead – we did and loved it too.

Ingredients

(Makes about 1 kg dough; 20 large pieces (50g) or 50 small ones (20g))

Dough:

40g caster sugar
12g instant yeast
80ml milk
70ml water
180g eggs (3 size 7 eggs)
500g baker’s flour
6g salt
150g butter, unsalted, softened
For frying: 2L canola oil

Filling:

250g cream cheese
250g double cream
12 slices pan-fried bacon, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup corn kernels, drained
2 tbsp chives, chopped
5 salmon slices, cut into small pieces (optional – you can just garnish with extra bacon on top)

Instructions

Place sugar, yeast, milk and water in a bowl. Stir to mix and let rest for 10 mins.
Place the rest of the dough ingredients, except the butter, into the bowl of an electric mixer with a beater attachment and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. The dough should start to shape into a ball. Switch to a dough hook.
With the mixer on medium speed, add softened butter in, a few bits at a time. Do this slowly to give the dough a few minutes to incorporate the butter fully.
Now turn the mixer to high speed and knead for 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic (it will look glossy and stretches to a thin pane when pulled).
Place in an oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm spot to prove for 1.5 hours, or till doubled in size (you can also leave it in the fridge overnight).
Lightly flour the surface you are working on. Tip the dough out from the bowl and shape it into a rough rectangle, rolling it to about 1.5-2 cm thick.
Use cookie cutters to cut out uniform discs of dough. Gather offcuts and roll into a rectangle, cutting more discs of dough. Use the last bits to make mini ones (they are great as testers).
Place all dough pieces well-spaced apart onto baking paper-lined trays. Cover with food wrap and leave it to prove in a warm spot, till doubled in size (about an hour. If dough was made overnight, then proving time will be 2-3 hours, ambient temperature dependent).
Prepare the frying vessel. Using a wide heavy-based pot, add oil up to about halfway of the pot. Have a cooking thermometer inserted to monitor the temperature of the oil – maintain it between 180C and 190C. Set up a cooling rack over a baking paper-lined tray next to your frying station.
Gently pick up dough from the tray and drop them into the hot oil. Depending on the size of your pot, fry only 3 – 4 at a time to avoid overcrowding (it drops the temperature of the oil and results in unevenness.)
Donuts should float and expand almost immediately – fry for 1.5 mins each side. If they are expanding too much, you may have to flip it over after only 15 seconds of cooking, to ensure they inflate evenly. Don’t flip too often though, or you will lose the signature “tan lines” in the middle.
Remove from the fryer and place on the cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Set aside to cool before filling.
Prepare filling by whipping cream cheese and cream together till softened and light. Add crispy bacon, corn and chives and mix together. Scoop these into a piping bag.
Holding a donut ‘tan line’ up, cut a slit down past half way, with a pairing knife.
Pipe filling into the donuts and garnish with extra chives, bacon or salmon.