Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts and an update...

Apologies for the lack of post and also apologies for haven't been visiting and commenting on your blogs too...

It's been a rather busy past few days... I am in the process of last-minute moving and packing is just not fun. I enjoy the cleaning up bit and throwing away crap I collect over the years, but the actual putting things and wrapping things into boxes... not so much.... Thankfully, it's almost done now.

Here's the thing, sometime ago, I found out that the place where I work for would not be able to sponsor myself and pretty soon my contract will officially be terminated; and that day is very soon coming... by very soon I mean in a few minutes time when I have to go to the office. Today is going to be my last day at work and I am absolutely dreading it... I'll get all emotional I'm sure and I don't do public display of emotion particularly well.

Throughout this time, I remain calm... well, I appear to remain pretty calm at least. I haven't had my "now panic and freak out" moment yet. Maybe that's because I have mixed feelings about all this. I am a great believer that everything happens for a reason... and one day, I will look back at this moment and I'd be glad that it did happen, because otherwise 'that thing' in the future would not happen.

And also, what keeps me really calm is the voice in my head... repeatedly saying, "Michael, don't worry. Everything is going to be OK. Everything is going to be OK". I am sure it will. I don't know if I am being overtly positive but I like the sound of that. Or maybe I have gone mental and started hearing random voices.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working at such fantastic place, surrounded by great colleagues. I am sad that I am leaving, but not sad because I am leaving the job, but because of the people I am going to leave. I am lucky that over the years I have made some wonderful friends and I will miss them deeply. I will miss bringing treats to work that's for sure. I really don't want to get into that now... starting to get emotional just writing about it.

OK, so what's next? Well, I am off on holiday to visit my family in Indonesia... It'll be nice to have a bit of sun and away from the never-ending rain. I am also looking forward to the food there... what a surprise... Not! And then when I come back... I'm gonna be moving to London where I am going to start the Diplome de Patisserie course at Le Cordon Bleu. I am beyond excited!

During this time, I'm gonna try to keep you up to date with what I'm doing and will try my best to read your posts too. Just bear with me please...

A couple of nights ago, whilst packing, watching football, spending time with friends, I managed to make some doughnuts. I absolutely love doughnuts but don't make them very often. But when I do make them, I must be accompanied because I can eat lots of them, especially when they're still warm... I always use the same doughnuts recipe from Jamie Oliver. I love the old English spiced sugar with the warm doughnuts which includes cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, lemon zest, orange zest and vanilla seeds; but a simple cinnamon sugar is just as nice.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
Recipe for doughnuts by Jamie Oliver

For the doughnuts
1 x 7 gr sachet dried yeast
70 gr caster sugar
500 gr plain flour
315 ml whole milk, warmed until tepid
zest of two lemons
zest of one orange
80 gr unsalted butter, softened and cubed
1 litre vegetable oil

For the cinnamon sugar
100 gr caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a bowl, add the yeast with one tablespoon of the caster sugar and a tablespoon of the flour and mix in the warm milk. Let it stand for 15 minutes until the mixture becomes frothy.

Put the rest of the sugar, flour, zests and butter in a bowl. Add the yeast mixture and use a wooden spoon to bring it all together then use your hand to mix it into a bowl. Add more flour if it's too sticky. Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until it's smooth and silky. Pop it into a bowl and cover with damp cloth or cling film. Leave it to rise for about one hour. Meanwhile make your cinnamon sugar.... I'm not giving you mockery instructions for this...

When the dough has doubled in size, give it a punch. I love doing this, don't know about you. Then roll on a floured surface until it's an even 1 cm thickness. Use a little cutter, approximately 5 cm in diameter and cut about 25 circles. Put them onto a greased baking tray, cover with cling or damp towel and let it rise again for another 45 minutes.

When the dough has doubled in size again, use a chopstick to make a little hole in the centre. Now heat the vegetable oil in a large deep saucepan then fry the doughnuts until golden brown. This won't take long at all. Two minutes max. While the doughnuts are still warm coat them in the cinnamon sugar and eat straightaway with a cup of coffee or tea.