Vegan Crouu Doughnuts | Baking Partners Challenge #15

Crouu Doughnut or a cronut is a new name to me. It is actually a croissant-doughnut pastry developed by Dominique Ansel and it is said that people queue up for this half croissant half doughnut cronut. Imitations of this recipe has mushroomed almost everywhere it seems. 

Wondering why too much fuss over a nut ?  I did too till I tasted it !.

Well, this month Thanks to Swathi Iyer & Reeni we tried it out for Baking Partners #15 sourced from Bootleg Cronut. Its a lengthy 3 day recipe, but totally worth it once you sink your pearlies into the flaky pastry .On top of that I made it vegan using the base recipe provided from Vegan HeartLand, and then laminating with shortening instead of butter. It was risky, but it worked.

 I have read that  most commercial puff pastry makers go for shortening instead of butter, so I thought why not try in the home version too!. Then I read conflicting reports on how shortening gives bad taste and blah blah..

So I was on hot coals till the first bite. One bite and it was heaven.So heres my version 

Ingredients:

Crouu- Doughnut:

Instant yeast : 2.1/4 tsp

Water: 2.5 tbsp

Coconut Milk: 1 cup warm

Sugar: 5 tbsp

Salt: 3/4 tsp

Applesauce: 5 tbsp

Shortening /Vanaspati: 6 tbsp

All Purpose Flour: 3 cups  + 1-2 cup as needed

Laminating : Shortening: 1.1/4 cups of cold vanaspati

Deep Frying: Vegetable/ Canola Oil: 2+ cups as needed

Procedure:First day Make the doughSecond Day: LamnateThird day: Deep fry

Preparation:

First Day: Dough:

Blitz together all the dough ingredients adding more flour as needed to get a non sticky dough, scraping the the sides of the processor. 

Gently knead/shape the dough into a round mass and let it sit covered in a well oiled vessel until it turns puffy or doubles in 45  minutes. Refrigerate overnight.

Second Day: Laminating : 

I took out the required quantity of shortening, let it cool a bit, then made it into a rectangle within 2 sheets of waxed paper and then chilled it for another 15 minutes or so.You can also add a little flour while doing this so that it sticks better and rolls out better, but I lightly dusted the wax paper with apf. 

Unwrap the dough, roll it out into a 10.5 ' square on a floured surface. Unwrap the shortening and place it on the dough so that its points are centred along the sides of the dough.

Fold one flap of the dough over butter/shortening, stretching it lightly so that the point reaches the centre of fat. Repeat with other flaps. Then press the edges together to completely seal the butter inside the dough.

First Turn:

Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough.Press the dough to elongate slightly. Then turn the dough so that the smaller side to face you. Roll out the dough to expand the length, adding more flour as needed. Once you have a rectangle of 21 x 9 inches, fold the top third of the rectangle to the centre,and then the bottom third on top to cover it. Chill the dough for atleast 15 minutes and then turn the dough 90 degrees to resemble a book. Now comes the second turn.

Second, Third and Fourth  Turns:  

These are similar to the first one except that you have to ensure you are working along the length of the dough and chill in between. Refrigerate overnight or till frying time

For me from the second turn problems started. The shortening broke inside (may be I chilled overtime, it was sort of hard), but I continued and adjusted the chilling time with the successive turns and the fourth turn was lovely. 

Third Day: Fry Day

Take out the cold dough, let it sit for few minutes in room temp, then roll out expanding the length  or along the length of a baking sheet into 1/2' thick rectangle adding enough flour as needed to prevent sticking. Chill the rectangle in the baking sheet itself in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Take out and punch out the crouu-doughnuts,remove the punched ones onto another lined baking sheet,brush the tops with water and let it sit at room temp until puffy for about 30 minutes. You can refreeze the dough rectangle for later use as well.

Once puffy freeze these for 15 minutes before deep frying. 

Baking might not work for these as Swathi has mentioned in her post, but still I am planning to try with some dough left in the freezer.Also she describes the correct size for these pastries, but I have used my doughnut cutter.

Heat enough vegetable oil in a deep small bowl and deep fry the crouunuts on both sides at a lower heat. The correct temperature is the one when you add a pinch of flour to the oil, it sizzles up.The low heat ensures the golden brown colour of the crust and also they are cooked inside.

Drain these on paper towels till the shiny colour drains out. Prepare the glaze and also toss the crouu doughnuts in cinnamon sugar.

I went for a simple chocolate glaze.

Y U M M O. Perfect taste, Perfectly Vegan.I am surprised that apple sauce, shortening, coconut milk could result in such a tasty pastry. It was a risk well done. Ofcourse you can even go for butter if you do not want shortening. But whatever bad reports that shortening tastes crappy compared to butter is wrong. But ofcourse it might be just a mental hitch that you feel and not the real thing.

Anyways the challenge is well completed though as usual I am late in posting. But better late than never!.Enjoy the crouu doughnut :- P