Nutella-filled brioche doughnuts

This dough can be made by hand, but it’s much easier using a free-standing electric mixer. Place the cake flour, white sugar, sea salt flakes, instant dry yeast, cubed butter, milk and water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix at low speed until a thick dough forms. If working by hand, use a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients.

Work in the lightly beaten eggs, little by little. The dough should be soft, but not runny.

If you opted for a stand mixer, replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook and knead at low speed, 10 minutes. Alternatively, knead by hand, 15 minutes.

Place the dough in a large bowl and cover the bowl with a clean, damp tea towel. Leave the bowl in a warm place, 1 hour 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Roll the dough out on a flour-dusted surface to a thickness of 1cm and cut out discs using a 5 – 6cm-diameter round cookie cutter. Place the dough discs on a baking paper-lined baking sheet dusted with flour and allow the discs to prove, 30 minutes.

In a deep fat fryer or large, deep pot, heat the oil to 160˚C. Use a sugar thermometer to check the temperature of the oil if using a pot. Drop a few discs into the hot oil (so as to not overcrowd the pot) and fry until golden brown, flipping over after 3 minutes (about 6 minutes in total). Remove from oil and drain on paper towel. Continue to fry the dough discs in batches.

Allow the doughnuts to cool slightly, before filling them with Nutella, as follows: place the Nutella in a piping bag fitted with a small, plain nozzle. Press the nozzle through the doughnuts from underneath and pipe in the Nutella to stuff the doughnut. Repeat until all of the doughnuts have been filled.

Roll the doughnuts in the castor sugar and serve.