hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Hawaiian comfort food classics with a shot at the Portuguese donut known as a “malasada,” found very commonly all throughout Hawaiian dessert cuisine. For those unfamiliar, a malasada is a milk and yeast based dough ball that is deepfried, then coated in sugar, and optionally filled with a custard, chocolate, haupia, or any number of fillings. The incorporation of leavening ingredients in our dough give the malasada an airy and fluffy texture to it (today, this will be achieved with eggs and dry active yeast), thanks to the ample rise that these two ingredients contribute during our proof as well as our fry. Then for our version today, we’ll also be pairing this with a few tricks that come from bread baking by using a bit of bread flour and wheat flour to also simultaneously give our malasada a nice chewy bite to it as well. Hope you try it. 

 

Yields 14

INGREDIENTS (dry)

  • 4 cups (625g) bread flour (or AP flour)

  • 1/2 cup (65g) wheat flour

  • 1/4 cup (90g) white sugar

  • pinch (5g) kosher salt

INGREDIENTS (wet)

  • 1 packet (3 tbsp) dry active yeast

  • 1 cup whole milk

  • 1 tbsp white sugar

  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

  • 2 eggs

  • 48oz fryer oil

INGREDIENTS (topping)

  • 1/4 cup white sugar

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

PREP

  • COMBINE all topping ingredients, set aside

  • COMBINE all dry ingredients, set aside

  • WARM the milk to 85F then add the dry active yeast and sugar, and let proof for 10 minutes

  • MELT the butter, let cool, then add the eggs and whisk to combine

  • COMBINE the dry ingredients with the milk and butter mixtures, then kneed until a cohesive dough ball forms

  • COVER with plastic wrap and proof the dough in an oven with the oven light on for 3 hours

  • SEPARATE the dough into 14 equal pieces, then roll the dough into an even ball shape and press a divot into the center

  • SET aside and proof for an additional 30 minutes

ON THE STOVE

  • ADD 48oz fryer oil to a wok and heat to 325F

  • ADD the dough balls 2 at a time and fry until lightly golden, removing at about 80% doneness

  • IMMEDIATELY toss in the topping mixture, then let cool before eating

 

tagged with woo can cook, hawaiian food, donut, fried donut, hawaiian cuisine, malasada, lenards, dessert, hawaiian dessert