There is nothing I love more than realizing on Saturday evening that we have a glorious, lazy Sunday ahead of us. No where to go. Nothing to do. We get to set our own pace. On days like this, getting up and out of bed takes us a little longer. We make time for super long morning stretches and extra cuddles in bed. And to celebrate these special mornings, no ordinary breakfast/brunch will do. These mornings call for something a bit more special. Something made with a little bit more love.

Basic Brioche Dough for Donuts (The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook)

1/4  cup plus 1 tablespoon milk at room temperature
1  teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/3  cups bread flour
2  tablespoons suger
3/4  teaspoon kosher salt
2  large eggs at room temperature
5  tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for buttering bowl

Combine milk and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes to proof.

Add flour, sugar, salt, and the eggs to the bowl of the mixer and fit with dough hook. Mix on medium speed, stopping to scrape the bowl down a few times, and continue mixing until the dough wraps itself around the dough hook and pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl, about 20 minutes. (It really does take that long. Patience, my friends.) Stop the mixer, scrape dough off the hook using rubber spatula or dough scraper, and put the dough back into the bottom of the mixer bowl.

Turn the mixer, hook still attached, back to medium speed and begin adding the butter a couple tablespoons at a time, allowing the butter to be fully incorporated after each addition, until all the butter has been added. When all the butter has been incorporated, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place it in a clean, lightly buttered bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Please dough in a warm place and allow to double in size, about 3 hours.

When the dough has doubled, remove it from the container and place it on a lightly floured surface. The dough will be soft and sticky. Flour your hands and punch or slap the dough to ge rid of any extra air bubbles. Rebutter the bowl and put the dough back in it. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6hrs or overnight.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured work surface. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Use a pizza cutter and cut 1 1/4-inch to 1 1/2-inch squares.

Spray parchment-lined baking sheet with vegetable oil spray. Place donuts on prepared sheet and loosely cover with a clean kitchen towel or a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with vegetable oil, greased side down. Allow donuts to rise at room temperature until they have increased in size by 50%, about an hour.After donuts have risen, place them in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.

Once fryer is ready (frying temp of 350), fry donuts in small batches 3-4 donuts. Be sure to flip them over frequently so they fry evenly and big air bubbles don’t form. It should take about 2 minutes for the donuts to completely fry. After the donuts have drained, you can either dust them with powdered sugar or roll them around in your favorite cinnamon sugar mix. We use 1 cup sugar to 2 tablespoons of cinnamon.

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Especially when they involve spending extra time with your favorite people.

xo,

Andrea