Recipe Testing.... Doughnuts and such :)

       Whenever I have a moment I like to surf the web and go to food sites. I often search websites recipe archives and stop until something catches my attention. I feel that nothing is ever "original". There is always someone out there who has cooked the same thing. What I like to do is if I find a recipe that looks good, I think of someway to change it to make it my own. Hence- the experimentation comes in. Whenever you alter a recipe (especially for baking), the dish coming out perfect is always left up to chance. You have to make sure that you substitute correct ingredients for each other. For example- if you take out butter, you have to make sure you sub for another fat so that you get the same result for your finished product.  

       One day I stumbled upon Yahoo's Shine website where they have a special cooks section. There, Chef Fabio Viviani (from Top Chef) has a segment called Chow Ciao where there are videos making his favorite dishes. I came across his perfect doughnut recipe. Reading through the recipe, i was surprised to see that the base was white potatoes. I thought how delicious would it be if I substituted the white potatoes for sweet potatoes. Should come out the same or even better, right. So I gave it a try. 

        I followed the recipe http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/perfect-homemade-doughnuts-194600827.html exactly. When the dough was mixed i noticed that it was still very wet and I could not form it in any shape without adding more flour. That is when I remembered that sweet potatoes contain more water than white ones- reason why my dough came out wet. I added about an additional cup and a half of flour to the dough so I could manage it. Also knowing at that point the recipe was extremely altered and kept me guessing how it would come out.

        I let the dough sit out and rise for 20 minutes just like the recipe said but it barely rose. 

     

        I cooked them anyway, knowing the error in my ways just to see how the would come out. The doughnuts fried up well. Once fully cooked I tossed them in a mixture of cinnamon, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Then it was taste time. The doughnuts were dense and had a faint taste of sweet potato. The next time I make them I know what to do differently. For one- after roasting & mashing the sweet potatoes I will cook down the mash so water can evaporate making a paste. That will aid in having a more pronounced sweet potato taste and less flour to be added. I will also up the yeast a bit to get the light and airiness to the finished product. They were good however now I know what to do to make them amazing.

***If you have more leftover potatoes I also recommend this recipe by Chef Fabio for his gnocchi. Below I posted a picture during the process of making it but it was soo good that they were all gone before I could take a picture of the finished product. http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/potatoes-101-perfect-gnocchi-214300981.html