Cream Cheese Bao Donut

PASTRY

Apr 7

with Strawberry Glaze

Chef Dan Kennedy of Thacher and Rye | Frederick, MD

INGREDIENTS:

Bao Dough:
270 grams milk
75 grams grapeseed oil
110 grams eggs
7 grams dry yeast
450 grams cake flour
50 grams granulated sugar
8 grams kosher salt

Cream Cheese Filling:
115 grams granulated sugar
30 grams cornstarch
10 grams kosher salt
70 grams egg yolks
115 grams Smithfield pourable cream cheese
225 grams whole milk
30 grams Kerrygold butter
2 vanilla beans, scraped

Strawberry Glaze:
1 pound fresh strawberries, preferably Harry’s Berries or local
Granulated to sugar, to coat
750 grams 10x sugar
1 lemon, zested

Assembly:
Flour, to roll out dough

METHOD:

For Bao Dough:
In a stand mixer bowl add milk, grapeseed oil, yeast, and eggs. Whisk slightly just to combine. Let ingredients sit to allow yeast to bloom while mixing dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl add cake flour, sugar, and salt. Mix the drys to combine and sift into the stand mixing bowl. Use a dough hook on a slow speed to start incorporating dough. Once the mixture starts to form into a wet dough turn the stand mixer to medium high and mix for 17 minutes. Not a typo, the dough needs that long to come together and to work the glutens. Once 17 minutes is up add dough to a mixing bowl that has been greased and wrap tightly. Let dough proof for 45 minutes to an hour, or until doubled in size. Once dough has proofed, unwrap and punch dough down. Wrap again and place in a refrigerator for at least one hour to rest, or ideally overnight.

For the Cream Cheese Filling:
In a stainless steel pot add cornstarch, sugar, and salt and whisk to combine. Add egg yolks and whisk until yolks become light and airy. Add milk and scraped vanilla bean and whisk to combine. Add pot to medium heat and whisk constantly for about 8 minutes to thicken pastry cream. Pause for a minute to check that it is bubbling. Once pastry cream starts bubbling whisk vigorously for one minute. After a minute, take the pot off the heat and whisk in your pourable cream cheese and butter until melted and combined. Strain pastry cream through chinois then place over an ice bath and cover cream with plastic wrap or parchment to avoid skin from forming. Let cream completely cool and set. Once pastry has set portion into scoops, 20 grams each. Place portioned scoops on a sheet tray with parchment. Place portions into the freezer or blast chill if you have it in your kitchen. If you place it in a blast chill you need to work faster to avoid the pastry cream freezing too much. You are looking for pastry cream to harden on the outside so you can shape into a smooth ball.

For the Strawberry Glaze:
Cut greens off strawberry and rinse. Lightly dry strawberries and place in a mixing bowl, lightly coating strawberries with sugar. Wrap bowl very tightly with plastic wrap and place over double boiler. Cool strawberries until they break down and it begins to make a syrup. Take strawberries out and place in a blender. Blend on medium speed and pass through chinois if you want a smooth texture; I prefer to not pass this as I like the texture of the strawberry seeds on the glaze. In a mixing bowl, add 350 grams of the strawberry purée, 10x sugar, and lemon zest and mix together. Reserve.

To Assemble and Serve:
Take dough out of the refrigerator and portion into 50 gram pieces. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll into balls and set aside until all dough is portioned and rolled. To roll out dough add flour to the work surface and roll out dough with a rolling pin making sure to rotate dough after every pass to make sure you are evenly rolling. Roll dough out to around 4 inches in diameter. Once your dough is rolled grab your chilled pastry cream from the freezer and place in the center of dough. Grab the dough from opposite ends with a small amount of water on your fingertips to bind together. Continue to grab opposite ends until the dough is completely sealed shut. Roll dough lightly with pinched side down on a dry work surface to close up. Place donuts on a parchment lined sheet tray and place plastic wrap loosely. Let proof in a slightly warm area for about 30 minutes or once they double in size. Be careful not to have it too warm of a spot as you don’t want your pastry cream to be completely warm it will get messy. Heat fryer to 350 F. Carefully remove proofed donuts and drop into the fryer. Place fryer basket over donuts to keep down (the uneven weight won’t allow for flipping). Fry donuts for 3 minutes and remove them with a spider. Allow donuts to slightly cool before placing in glaze. Glaze donuts and again allow it to slightly cool to allow glaze to set on the donut and serve.

Similar Recipes