Mochi Donuts are chewy, moist and started in Japan.
This recipe was adapted from Just One Cookbook, to make the dough easier to handle without sacrificing its bounciness and taste.
This is not an easy recipe and it is time-consuming, and you can guess from its looks, requires intricate work. But it is so worth the while
Ingredients
- 85 g unsalted butter (6 Tbsp)
- 2 Large eggs
- 200 ml whole milk heated to 110ºF or 43ºC
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 300 g plain flour
- 200 g warabi mochi flour or mochiko or tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 liter corn oil
Glaze
- 240 g confectioners' sugar
- 60 ml whole milk
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp match green tea powder
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients and prepare 24 sheets of 4” x 4” (10 x 10 cm) parchment paper.
- Melt the butter in the microwave or in a saucepan over the stove and let cool slightly. Crack 2 eggs in a bowl and beat them with a whisk. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl), combine warm milk and instant yeast, and then add ½ tsp sugar from the 50 g (¼ cup) sugar you prepared. Whisk the mixture well. Set aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Prepare a large mixing bowl and sift the mochiko and all-purpose flour.
- Set the stand mixer with a flat beater attachment. Add the rest of the sugar and beaten egg to the milk mixture.
- Add the melted butter and vanilla.
- Beat on low speed for 1 minute until combined (Or, stir with a wooden spoon).
- Add roughly 2 cups flour mixture and beat on low speed until well combined.
- With the stand mixer running on low speed, add the remaining flour mixture one scoop at a time and salt. Set aside the mixing bowl that flours were in for the next step. The dough mixture has thickened.
- Now change to medium-high speed and beat for 3-4 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Note that this is a sticky dough, so do not add additional flours. Hand Kneading is not recommended as the dough is very hard to handle and sticky.
- Now bring back the large mixing bowl (that had flours in it earlier). Add a little bit of oil and grease it with a paper towel.
- When you remove the flat beater from the stand mixer, you can see the stretchy, sticky dough.
- Using the pastry card, transfer the dough into the greased bowl. Try to scrape down the dough from the sides, collect the dough into one big mass, then gently scrape it down to the greased bowl. The key here is to make sure the surface of the dough is mostly smooth (so that it will rise nicely). Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a shower cap) and place it in a warm environment to rise until doubled, about 70-80 minutes. Tip: Make sure the proof temperature is not too high. If the dough gets too warm, it will ferment too quickly (or over ferment) and impair the flavor.
- After 70-80 minutes, pour the oil into a wok.
- In a medium bowl, combine all the glaze ingredients except for matcha powder. Whisk really well to make sure there are no lumps of confectioners’ sugar. Keep the matcha powder on the side for now.
- Wait until the dough doubled in size.
- Prepare 1-2 Tbsp of all-purpose flour and put it at the corner of your work surface. Lightly flour the work surface and your hands.
- Using the pastry card, remove the dough from the bowl and transfer to the lightly floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and press the dough down with your hands to release any air bubbles.
- With the pastry card, shape the dough into a rough log shape and cut it in half.
- Shape the half into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Cut the other half into 4 pieces, and roll them into 4 balls. Keep 3 dough balls under the plastic wrap.
- Each dough balls will make roughly 3 mochi donuts. Cut the dough into small balls of 5 grams each.
- Roll the ball between your hands, but try not to spend too much time. Over-kneaded dough often ends up with hard crust and a dense, dry interior. Since the dough is very sticky, this pastry card is very helpful.
- Use the pastry card to transfer each ball to a 4” x 4” parchment paper. You will need 8 balls to make a mochi donut shape.
- To make sure the balls won’t separate in the hot oil, use a pastry brush to dab water on the dough where balls attach to neighboring ones. Cover the donuts with a damp paper towel or light cloth (make sure it’s not heavy) and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes. Continue with the rest of the dough. If you are taking a very long time, it’s very helpful to work with a partner so the dough won’t be over-proofed.
- Heat oil to medium heat.
- Using your hands or fine-mesh skimmer (a kind that has a flat mesh), submerge the donut into the oil together with the parchment paper it sits on.
- Let go of the donut and fry for 1 minute 15 seconds for the first side.
- Turn and fry the second side for 45 seconds.
- Scoop up the donut and drain well. Then transfer to the paper towel to drain excess oil. Repeat with remaining donuts, then turn off the heat.
- While the donuts are still hot, dip each donut into the glaze, making sure to coat well.
- Place it onto the prepared rack to allow excess glaze to drip down. The glaze will set and harden on the donuts after 30 minutes.
- After making 12 glazed donuts, you can add the matcha to the leftover glaze. Whisk really well to combine.
- Just like any other deep-fried foods, it’s best to eat the donuts when they are warm.
