242

Adaptrix
No custard
Das ist ein Berliner! Double the
jam amount per bombe and make
it your favourite jam. Heck, I’d even
push a soft marmalade in. If your
jam is smooth and chunkless, you
can pipe it in too.


Flavour the dusting sugar to
complement the jam: cardamom
or chamomile powdered sugar
goes with orange or apricot fillings.


Star anise sugar with strawberry
filling. Sugars can be crushed with
freeze-dried fruit or flavoured
with vanilla bean.


All custard
No jam, just all plain or flavoured
custard. You’ll need a LARGE
batch of Cold-start thick custard
(page 247) if you’re doing this.

Cherry sugar
Whiz 10 g oz) freeze-dried
cherries with the sugar and salt to
dust over the bombes. This pink
powdery hue is so romantic!
At 30 minutes into the proof, slowly bring the oil up to 170°C
(340°F) so the oil doesn’t overheat and get scarily smoky. If you
own a benchtop fryer, set the temperature to 170°C (340°F). The oil
should be ready at the same time as the bombes are ready to fry.
Set up a wire rack over a shallow tray to drain the bombes.

To fry, carefully lift two or three bombes off the tray and place into
the oil (avoid the temptation to fearfully throw them in). Fry for
3 minutes, then flip them gently with your tongs.


If the bombes develop air bubbles that prevent them flipping over, gently
pierce with a sharp knife or skewer.

Fry another 2 ½–3 minutes. Remove the bombe from the fryer and
test the internal temperature with a thermometer. It should be 90°C
(195°F). If it’s under, return to fry for 30 seconds each side.


Doughnuts’ internal structure sets as it cools. If you cut a hot doughnut
open, the inside will be doughy and gummy. Using a thermometer means
you don’t waste doughnuts by cutting open to check.


Remove the bombes from the oil and drain on the wire rack. Super
important: let the oil heat back up to 170°C (340°F) before the
next batch. Keep frying all the bombes until you have a wire rack of
impending yeasted joy!
While the bombes cool for 15–30 minutes, make the powdered sugar
and the custard filling. Whiz the sugar, vanilla and salt in a spice grinder
(or food processor) until powdery white, then set aside in a wide bowl.


Soften the custard in a bowl with a stiff plastic spatula and fold in the
quark (or cream cheese). When smooth and emulsified, load into a
piping (icing) bag fitted with an 8–10 mm (¼–½ in) wide tip. Keep at
room temperature (chill if you are assembling them much later).


Poke a hole in the side of a bombe and ease your pinky in. Gently
wiggle a little space, being careful not to roughly compress the dough.


Then, pick up some jam on the tip of a butter knife and deposit it into
the space, swiping it against the inner wall of the bombe. It’s kinda
like baking keyhole surgery!
Pipe the quark custard in (around 30 g/1 oz per bombe) –the bombe
should feel heavier in your hand with the addition. Roll the filled
bombe in the powdered vanilla sugar and eat as soon as you can.