Savory doughnuts filled with Mornay sauce - recipe

The savory doughnuts filled with Mornay sauce are as yummy as their sweet counterparts, great to serve with drinks at a dinner party! Find this and many more recipes with pictures on the English version of the Giallozafferano App
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Firstly make a sponge, that provides strength to the dough: combine the flour, the active dry yeast and the water. Mix with your hands to form a smooth dough. Return to the bowl, cover with cling film and allow to rise in the turned off oven with the light on for at least 2 hours.
The sponge is risen, place in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add the whole eggs and beat until well blended, add a teaspoon of malt - if malt is not available, you can use a teaspoon of honey or sugar. Now add the water, then the sifted flour, the baking powder, the active dry yeast and lastly the salt. The dough has come together, so replace the paddle with the dough hook. Start the mixer on medium speed and beat for about 15 minutes, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and gathers around the hook, then stop the mixer.
The dough has formed into a ball around the hook; now add the butter waiting until each piece is incorporated before adding the next. The dough is ready, it’s smooth and elastic; lightly grease the work surface with oil to keep the soft dough from sticking and quickly form into a ball. Cover with cling film and allow to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, the turned off oven with the light on works well.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling for the savoury doughnuts, the Mornay sauce, which is none other than a savoury custard made from a roux base: so turn on the heat, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, stir until brown; now pour in the milk - at room temperature is better - add salt and grated nutmeg to taste. Once thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the grated cheese, I’m using Asiago cheese: the Mornay sauce can be made with gruyere, fontina or grated parmesan cheese. Mix the egg yolks with a little heavy cream. Return the mixture to a low heat just for a few seconds, until thickened. Now turn off the heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a container to cool - a large, shallow container is better. Place the cling film directly on the surface, to prevent a skin from forming, and allow to cool; you can set the bowl in an ice bath to cool more quickly. Once completely cooled, transfer to a pastry bag and keep in the fridge until ready to use.
Here’s my risen dough: dust the work surface with flour to keep it from sticking and roll it out, taking care not to deflate it too much, to a thickness of about 1 inch (2,5 cm). Take a tray and a round cookie cutter, 2 ½ inches (6,5 cm) in diameter, cut out circles and place them on parchment paper, otherwise use a clean kitchen cloth dusted with flour. Space them out so they have room to rise. You should have 24 circles total; if you want to reroll the scraps, take care not to deflate the dough and allow to rise for another half an hour before rolling out and cutting out more shapes. Here’s the first batch of twelve, allow to rise for half an hour in the turned off oven with the light on, and move on to the second batch.
It’s time to fry the savoury doughnuts: bring the oil to about 345°F (175°C), peanut oil, and add the doughnuts. The dough is very soft, so cut the parchment paper into squares around each circle and drop in the paper squares as well, to preserve the round shape; the paper comes off easily, so take it out with tongs. Turn them over immediately to allow both sides to puff up. Fry 4 doughnuts at a time or the temperature of the oil will drop. Once nice and golden brown, drain well and place on kitchen paper. Repeat for the rest of the doughnuts.
Put the Mornay sauce in a pastry bag with Bismarck tip and fill the doughnuts in this way. And while I’m filling all the doughnuts, let’s see together the ingredients needed for this recipe.
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 1 cup (125 g) of bread flour
- 5 tbsp (75 ml) of water
- ¼ tsp (1 g) of active dry yeast
For the dough
- less than 4 cups (500 g) of bread flour
- ¾ tsp (3 g) of active dry yeast
- ¼ tbsp (4 g) of baking powder
- 4 medium eggs
- 1 tsp of malt
- ½ cup (100 g) of softened butter
- ½ cup (120 ml) of water
- 2 tsp (12 g) of salt
For the Mornay sauce
- 2 cups (500 ml) of fresh whole milk
- ⅔ cup (80 g) of flour
- 3 ½ tbsp (50 g) of butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 ⅓ tbsp (35 ml) of heavy cream
- ¾ cup (80 g) of grated mature Asiago cheese
- 1 pinch of grated nutmeg
- 1 pinch of salt
For frying
- 3 cups (750 ml) of peanut oil