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Nov 12

Donuts à la Fabio Viviani : The Sexy Italian Kind

 

 

 

A couple of months back Kerry in Switzerland sent me a video clip with the message, ‘Check this guy out … I think he’s crazy!’ So I did and yes, my first thought was this guy’s a little on the loopy side;  making donuts and speaking with a funny accent. And that, good people, is how I first discovered the fabulous Fabio Viviani.

 

 

He was making “sexy hole-less” Italian donuts on his show using mashed potato as a secret ingredient, all in a fancy purple Italian shirt. That’s quite a feat! It was a very interesting donut making demo, and Fabio is very entertaining to watch. Best of all who knew mashed potatoes could be turned into incredibly scrumptious donuts?! Fabio assures his viewers however, that you will not know or detect any hint of potatoes when you bite into these morsels. The potatoes will only serve to make your donuts light and fluffy like you’ve never known them to be before. He presented a fair statement that I then decided needed to be put to the test.

 

 

 

 

 

Italian Donuts  (makes 30+)

  • 5 cups flour
  • 4 Russett potatoes, mashed
  • 1 1/4 cups warm milk
  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cups butter or lard
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 pkt (2.5 tsps) dry yeast

 

 

** Please be aware that this is a large recipe and will get you about thirty or so donuts … far too many for the number of people in my house.

 

 

Grab the necessary ingredients and get down with making dough. Woohoo! First I warmed up some milk in the microwave on 30-second intervals. Then into a mixing bowl with the dough hook attachment, I placed two eggs and sugar. I think its best to lightly break up the eggs before mixing it with the sugar to evenly distribute the whites and yolks.

 

 

 

 

 

Break up the eggs and the sugar then place it on the machine to mix while you pour in the warmed milk and the yeast. Stir for about 2 – 3 mins. I actually stopped the machine, covered the bowl with a plate and left the yeast to activate for about 10 mins. Then I added the mashed potatoes + butter and returned the mixture to the machine to mix.

 

 

Then add the flour one cup at a time and knead the dough for about 5 mins. Turn off the machine, turn out the dough on a floured surface and pat into a general rectangle shape. Make sure you flour your hands and the top of the dough generously to avoid a sticky mess. With enough flour I found the dough to be very manageable.

 

 

 

 

Take a rolling pin and roll out the dough to about 1/3 inch thick. Then cut out rounds with a pastry cutter and place the rounds onto a cookie try lined with lightly dusted parchment paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Cover with a wet towel and allow the dough to rise, approx 30 – 60 mins. I put my trays in the oven with just the oven light switched on to keep them nice and warm (my kitchen is very frigid this time of year). They didn’t rise too much actually and I got worried that I had messed up yet another recipe … but they fluffed up very nicely during the frying process, so don’t worry if yours don’t fluff up to double it’s size during the proofing period.

 

 

 

 

 

Heat up some veggie or peanut oil in a pot or a shallow frying pan. Then begin frying your donuts two at a time. They brown rather quickly so keep an eye on them. Once they hit the oil they fluff up almost immediately so don’t put too many in the pan at once. They only take about 2 – 3 mins to cook; remove and drain on kitchen towels. Fabio recommends that you then brush the tops with melted butter and dust LIBERALLY with sugar all over. I personally skipped the melted butter bit and only dusted the tops with icing sugar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In his video demo, Fabio claimed these donuts were the “sexiest and fluffiest” donuts you will ever come across … and after making these I have to say he wasn’t kidding. These babies fell apart like clouds when I tore one open. They were sweet and sooooo airy, and I did not taste any potato whatsoever. Although, because I bought the mash potato (yes, now sue me), it had nutmeg in it and that definitely came thru in the finished product ~ nutmeggy donuts. Hehehe.

 

 

All in all I was very satisfied with this baking stint. Even R loved them and declared that all he wanted for dinner were these donuts; then proceeded to scoff six in one sitting. Sheesh! Anyway, this recipe is very straight forward therefore I recommend it to all my readers. Have some leftover mashed potato in the fridge after that dinner party? Well make sexy Italian donuts! Bellisimo!

 

 

 

~ Enjoy!! ~

 

 

 

 

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Permanent link to this article: http://foodflurries.com/sweet/donuts-a-la-fabio-viviani-the-sexy-italian-kind

6 comments

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  1. harry

    Excuse me…. im harry from indonesia …. i wanna ask this recipe…. i tried this recipe more than 6 times but the result is never fluffy …my flour just have 13% protein …what’s flour u used?? …. im very dizzy 🙁

    1. bubviv

      Hello Harry. Sorry to hear that u have not been successful in your attempts. I just use normal ALL PURPOSE flour for this recipe and it turned out great. Maybe u need to rest the dough and let it rise before frying them.

  2. harry

    Ahh…. okay i’ll try again n again… hehehe….thx u very much bubviv….maybe later i’ll ask to you again hehe 🙂

  3. harry

    Hello… i wanna ask how many grams 4 russet potatoes?…. cause i worry if too many potatoes ,,.it will be bad result…hehe

    1. bubviv

      Hello again Harry. It is not too important about how many grams Russet potatoes to use. Just use 4 small ones and that should work. If you are having trouble then perhaps you can watch the video demo on how chef Fabio makes them himself. The link is in my article.

  4. harry

    Owh….small potato … ok….i will try again n again bubviv…hehe….thx u again for your info… 😀

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