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This recipe is for the pumpkin lovers! These fluffy, pumpkin-forward brioche donuts are made with pumpkin purée folded right into the dough, fried until golden, and tossed in sugar. Each donut is filled with rich pumpkin pastry cream for an extra dose of fall flavor. Because when it comes to pumpkin, more is more!
How to Make Pumpkin Brioche Dough
- Hand whisk warm milk, sugar, and yeast together in the bowl of stand mixer. Followed by the eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin. Add the flour, salt, and pumpkin spice. Using the dough hook, mix into a smooth, tender dough, that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temp for 4-6 hours until doubled in size, or overnight in the fridge.
- Remove cold dough from the fridge and let warm on the counter for about 20 minutes.
- Scrape dough onto a floured surface and gently roll out to 1/2-inch thickness.
- Use a 3.5-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out as many doughnuts as possible. Gather and re-roll the scraps to cut out additional doughnuts. If the dough springs back while rolling, let it rest for 10–15 minutes before continuing.
- Transfer doughnuts to a tray lined with individual square sheets of parchment paper. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest until puffy. About 60-90 min.
- Fill a large pot with 3 inches of neutral frying oil. Heat to 350F (180C). Fry each donut for 1-2 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes.
- Toss slightly warm donuts in granulated sugar and set aside to cool before filling with pastry cream.
Making the Pumpkin Pastry Cream
- Whisk egg yolks and granulated sugar together until thick and foamy.
- Whisk in the sifted cornstarch until smooth. Then, whisk in the pumpkin and pumpkin spice.
- Heat the milk until steaming and starting to bubble. Slowly pour into the pumpkin mixture while whisking.
- Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat until boiling. Whisk continuously until the pastry cream takes on a pudding like consistency. Transfer to separate bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Pumpkin Brioche Donut Tips
- Make Ahead: To save time on frying day, I’ll make the pastry cream the day before, cover and keep in the fridge until ready to fill the donuts.
- Oil Temp: Use a thermometer to monitor the oil temp while frying. It will fluctuate as the dough is added and will need to be adjusted to maintain a steady 350°F (175°C) temperature.
- Oil Too Hot: Donuts will cook on the outside but stay doughy on the inside.
- Oil Too Cold: The dough will absorb the oil and not puff up while frying.
- Proof Long Enough: After shaping the donuts, let them proof until they’re noticeable puffy. This can take anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on the temperature in your kitchen. I check for readiness by gently pressing my finger tip into the dough. If it slowly fills up and leaves a small indent they’re ready. If the indent fills up quickly they need more time.
- Serve Immediately: Brioche donuts are best eaten right after they have been filled. While you can keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for an extra day, they will lose that fluffy texture.
Brioche Donut Troubleshooting
Donut Raw in the Middle: If the outside of the donut is very dark and the inside is mushy with no fluffiness, the oil was probably too hot.
Dough Not Puffing in the Oil: The signature light colored Saturn ring or band in the middle of the donut signifies a properly proofed dough. If your donut isn’t puffing up as it hits the hot oil and you don’t see the light ring when you flip the donut over, it’s one of two things. Either the donut was underproofed, lacking sufficient air bubbles within the dough or the oil was too cold.
Pumpkin Brioche Donuts
Fluffy brioche pumpkin donuts filled with a seasonal pumpkin pastry cream.
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Equipment
- large heavy bottom pot
Ingredients
Pumpkin Brioche Dough
- 65 grams whole milk, warm
- 7 grams instant dry yeast
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams (2 large) eggs, room temp
- 120 grams pumpkin puree, room temp
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 380 grams bread flour, 12-12.7% protein
- 1.5 tsp pumpkin spice
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 100 grams unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, softened
Pumpkin Pastry Cream
- 500 grams whole milk
- 80 grams (4 large) egg yolks
- 120 grams granulated sugar
- 50 grams cornstarch, sifted
- ½ tsp pumpkin spice
- 60 grams pumpkin puree
- 25 grams unsalted butter, softened
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Oil For Frying
- 1000 grams vegetable oil or sunflower oil
Instructions
Pumpkin Brioche Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, hand whisk together the milk, sugar, and yeast. Add in the pumpkin puree, eggs, and vanilla. Hand whisk just to combine.65 grams whole milk, 7 grams instant dry yeast, 50 grams granulated sugar, 100 grams eggs, 120 grams pumpkin puree, ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Next, dump in the flour, pumpkin spice, and salt.1.5 tsp pumpkin spice, ½ tsp fine sea salt, 380 grams bread flour
- Using the dough hook attachment on low speed, mix until a stiff thick bread dough is formed. (About 3-4 minutes on Speed 2 for my KitchenAid stand mixer.)
- Once the dough has come together, drop in the butter chunks, one at a time until fully combined into the dough. The texture will slowly go from stiff, to soft and sticky.100 grams unsalted butter
- After all the butter is added, increase to medium speed (Speed 4 on KitchenAid) until the dough becomes smooth, elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. About 8 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a bowl scraper halfway through.
- At this point the dough should be clinginging to the dough hook and attached to just the bottom of the bowl. Looking like a slow orange dough tornado. It will be tacky, slightly shiny, and NOT super sticky.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, it should hold together in one large mass. Shape into a round ball and transfer to a large, lightly greased bowl.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 1-2 hrs until doubled in size
Pumpkin Pastry Cream
- Place the milk in a medium saucepan on medium heat. .500 grams whole milk
- In a large mixing bowl next to the stove, whisk together egg yolk and sugar until pale and foamy. Sift in the cornstarch, then whisk until smooth. Lastly whisk in the pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree.80 grams egg yolks, 120 grams granulated sugar, 50 grams cornstarch, ½ tsp pumpkin spice, 60 grams pumpkin puree
- Once the milk is steaming, slowly pour it into the egg pumpkin mixture while continuously whisking. Then, pour everything back into the saucepan and return to medium heat.
- Continue whisking until the custard thickens into a pudding-like texture. If you stop whisking you will see it boil, with a few burps of air. About 4-5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the softened butter and vanilla. Push the cream through a fine mesh sieve into a separate bowl. Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the cream's surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 2-3 hrs.½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, 25 grams unsalted butter
Shaping and Frying Donuts
- Prepare two baking sheets by lightly greasing twelve squares of parchment paper with baking spray. Arrange the squares on the baking sheets.
- Slowly press your fist into the dough to release the gas and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to rough circle about 1/2-inch thick.
- Take a 3.5-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out as many doughnuts as possible.
- Gather and re-roll the scraps to cut additional donuts. If the dough springs back while rolling, let it rest for 10–15 minutes before continuing. All this means is that the gluten bonds in the dough are tight and needs a little time to relax.
- Place each doughnut on a separate square of greased parchment paper, spacing them about 5 cm apart on the baking sheets.
- Loosely cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap. Let the doughnuts rise for about 60-90 minutes until puffy. A finger gently poked into the dough should fill back up slowly and leave a small indent. (It can take longer if your kitchen is cold.)
- While the donuts rise, prepare a cooling rack lined with paper towels next to the stovetop.
- Fill a heavy-based pot with about 2-3 inches of vegetable oil or sunflower oil. Heat the oil to 350°F (180°C ) using a thermometer to monitor the temperature.1000 grams vegetable oil or sunflower oil
- I recommend heating the oil on medium-high heat to get it to the right temp, then lowering it to medium to maintain. It may fluctuate as you fry the donuts, so keep an eye on the thermometer.
- Once the donuts have risen, carefully lift each doughnut by its parchment square. Gently lower it into the hot oil, then peel away the parchment with tongs once it releases from the dough. Take care not to deflate or misshape the doughnuts.
- Fry 2–3 donuts at a time, depending on the size of your pot. The doughnuts should float, with roughly half of each doughnut submerged.
- Fry for about 1-2 minutes, then carefully flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown on both sides with a pale ring around the middle. The bubbles will subside when its ready to flip the doughnut.
- Keep an eye on the oil, if it gets too hot only the outside of the dough will cook and the inside will be gummy. To cold and the dough won't cook at all, but instead soak up a bunch of oil.
- Transfer the cooked donuts with a slotted spoon to a tray lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Let cool slightly.
- Carefully roll the both sides of the warm donut in a shallow bowl of granulated sugar for a light coating. Place on a plate or paper towel lined tray to cool completely.
Fill Doughnuts With Pasty Cream
- Remove pastry cream from the fridge and tranfer to a plastic piping bag fitted with a long piping tip.
- Poke a hole in the side of a donut, insert the piping tip and fill with pastry cream until you feel the donut becoming heavy and the cream starts to push back out.
- Brioche donuts are best enjoyed the day they're made. Serve immediately!
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