Anything you can cook, I can cook vegan boasts the title of Richard Makin’s new book. And it turns out it’s true: Makin, AKA School night Vegan, is a genius recipe developer and blogger who creates wonderful plant-based dishes. His donut recipes particularly caught my attention, as they are made from one of my favorite byproducts, aquafaba. Here is my whole wheat version.
Vegan whole grain doughnuts
Richard Makin has made it his mission to reinvent and veganize classic recipes, from New England-style lobster rolls to Grandma’s Lasagna. His recipes are great fun and, more importantly, they work too.
It’s miraculous what the liquid from a can of chickpeas can do, and these clever aquafaba donuts are a case in point. The aquafaban binds the dough, which puffs up into delicious, pillowy treats. I’ve tweaked Richard’s original recipe to make these donuts a whole food, and even made with whole wheat flour, they’re light and fluffy.
They are best eaten fresh, so just fry as many as you like at a time. If necessary, proof the rolled donuts in the fridge overnight or even freeze them (take them out of the fridge or freezer and, once fully thawed and doubled in size, they’re ready to fry).
Save any leftover oil to cook other foods or to fry your next batch of donuts. When cool, strain through a fine sieve and/or a clean cloth, seal in a clean container and store. Use up any leftover cinnamon sugar too, in a cup of chai or sprinkled over cereal.
Richard fills his boiled donuts with a delicious jam made from donut peaches, but experiment with your own fillings – my maple butter from last week goes really well with them too.
Make 10 mini donuts
150g wholemeal bread flour
80g fine plain wholemeal flourplus extra for dusting
2 tablespoons unrefined sugar
2 teaspoons light baking yeast
½ tsp sea salt
2 tablespoons (30 g) extra virgin olive oilplus extra for frying
160 g aquafaba (ie the liquid from 1 can of chickpeas)
50 g unrefined sugar – I used rapadura sugar, but anything will do
1 tsp ground cinnamon (voluntary)
Mix the bread flour, plain flour, yeast and salt in a stand mixer or bowl. Stir in the two tablespoons of oil and aquafaba, and knead in the bowl for 10 minutes, until the dough goes from sticky to smooth and strong. Cover and let rise for an hour until doubled in size.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, cut and shape into 10 balls, then keep them well apart. Cover with a cloth and let rise for another hour, or doubled in size. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix sugar and ground cinnamon, if using.
Put a small saucepan filled with 2 cm of oil over a medium heat and raise to 170C (if you don’t have a temperature probe, drop in a breadcrumb: when it bubbles to the surface, the oil should be ready). Carefully drop the donuts one by one without crowding the pan, cook for a couple of minutes until golden brown underneath, then flip and cook until golden on the other side. If necessary, lower the heat to avoid burning the oil.
Lift out each donut as it cooks, immediately roll in the sugar, then transfer to a serving dish and allow to cool before eating.