These salted caramel brioche doughnuts are the perfect combination of a fluffy brioche doughnut filled with a sweet and salty caramel pastry cream.
For the longest of time, I wanted to make homemade brioche doughnuts. Given my disastrous history with making fried foods, I refrained from making these scrumptious treats until a much needed investment in a candy/deep fry thermometer was made. With my new kitchen tool in hand, I tested out my recipe for these salted caramel brioche doughnuts three times. Yes, three times! I had to make sure I was not dreaming and actually successfully made homemade brioche doughnuts from scratch. More importantly, I wanted to make sure I was sharing a reliable recipe. To be frank, these salted caramel brioche doughnuts are definitely a labor of love but are totally worth the effort. Each bite of these fluffy brioche style doughnuts filled with a sweet and salty caramel pastry cream is next level delicious.
How to Make Salted Caramel Brioche Doughnuts
Brioche Doughnuts
Key Ingredients
- Flour – a combination of bread and all-purpose flour are used. Bread flour have a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour which makes for a doughnut that is the perfect balance between fluffy and slightly chewy. However, bread flour may be replaced with all-purpose flour.
- Yeast – I used active dry yeast which could be substituted with instant dry yeast just follow the instructions on packet.
- Egg
- Milk – dairy/non-dairy
- Unsalted Butter – melted and cooled to room temperature
- Granulated Sugar
- Honey
- Salt
- Vanilla Extract
How To Make Brioche Doughnuts
Brioche Doughnuts – Day 1
- Warm – milk and honey to 110-115F (43-46C) either on stovetop or in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Transfer warmed milk-honey mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix – yeast into milk-honey mixture and allow to sit for 10 minutes or until mixture takes on a foamy, bubbly appearance.
- Whisk – in a medium mixing bowl, add the bread flour, 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar and salt. Lightly whisk to combine. In a standard measuring cup/small bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.
- Mix – with the dough hook attached on stand mixer, add egg mixture into bowl with the activated yeast and mix at medium speed (4 on stand mixer).
- Reduce – speed on mixer to low (2 on stand mixer) and add dry ingredients into liquid mixture. Continue to mix on low until dough starts to come together and form into a ball.
- Knead – increase speed to medium (4 on stand mixer) and knead dough for 6 minutes. Dough will be soft and tacky to touch. If brioche dough is too soft and not holding its shape, add additional 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon at a time. May not need to use all of the additional flour, just use enough to prevent dough from being too sticky and more manageable to work with.
- Transfer – dough to a generously floured surface and shape into a ball. Grease a large mixing bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of oil and place ball of dough in bowl. Use hand to turn and flip brioche dough in greased bowl. You want all sides of the dough to be coated in oil. This will make it easier to remove dough from bowl later.
- Rest – Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm part of kitchen to rest and rise for at least one hour or until it have doubled in size.
- Refrigerate – gently punch down dough, place a dampen sheet of paper towel over bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. Placing a dampened sheet of paper towel over bowl before covering with plastic wrap will help catch any condensation that may develop as the dough rest overnight in the refrigerator.
Brioche Doughnuts – Day 2
- Cut – a large sheet of parchment paper into 8 squares, about 3”x 3”. It does not need to be precise. Individually arrange squares on a large baking sheet.
- Retrieve – brioche dough from the refrigerator and transfer to a generously floured surface. Use a bench scrapper or sharp knife to cut into 8 equal pieces of dough.
- Shape – each piece of dough into a ball by rolling dough against a clean surface under a cupped hand.
- Place – each ball of brioche dough onto pre-cut squares of parchment paper. Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
- Rest – place baking sheet in a warm part of kitchen and allow balls of brioche dough to rest and rise until doubled in sized, about 60-90 minutes.
- Add – remaining 1/2 cup (100g) sugar into a shallow dish and set aside. Line a cooling rack with two layers of paper towels. Place cooling rack near side of stove where doughnuts will be fried.
- Heat – attach a candy/deep fry thermometer to a deep bottom medium sized pot. Fill pot with 6-8 cups of oil and heat oil under medium heat to 325-350F (163-177C). Carefully monitor oil. You do not want the temperature to go above 350F(177C).
- Fry – in batches of one to two, carefully place risen balls of brioche dough top side down into oil. Use kitchen tongs to peel parchment square off the back of dough. Fry dough 2 minutes per side. Doughnuts will be a rich golden-brown color when ready.
- Transfer – using a spider/slotted spoon, transfer fried brioche doughnuts to prepared cooling rack and continue process until all the doughnuts are fried.
- Coat – all sides of warm brioche doughnuts in sugar and place on a large serving plate/cooling rack until ready to fill with pastry cream.
Salted Caramel Pastry Cream
Key Ingredients
- Milk – dairy/non-dairy
- Egg Yolks
- Granulated Sugar
- Cornstarch
- Flour – all-purpose flour
- Unsalted Butter
- Caramel Sauce – homemade/store-bought
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
How To Make Salted Caramel Pastry Cream
- Whisk – in a medium mixing bowl, add egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and flour. Whisk ingredients together until mixture resembles a thick yellow paste.
- Heat – pour milk into a medium saucepan and heat through just until hot but not boiling.
- Whisk – slowly pour and whisk a 1/2 cup (125 ml) of the heated milk into egg mixture. Once thoroughly mixed, proceed with whisking in the remaining milk.
- Cook – pour custard mixture back into saucepan and cook stirring constantly until it registers 160F (71C) on a digital kitchen thermometer and has thickened up to the consistency of pudding.
- Strain – pass warm pastry cream through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean medium sized mixing bowl.
- Whisk – in butter, caramel sauce, vanilla extract, and salt into warm pastry cream. Allow salted caramel pastry cream to cool slightly 10-15 minutes.
- Refrigerate – cover the surface of salted caramel pastry cream with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Caramel Whipped Cream
Key Ingredients
- Heavy Cream
- Caramel Sauce
How To Make Caramel Whipped Cream
- Add – cold heavy cream and caramel sauce into a cold small mixing bowl. I like to chill mixing bowl in freezer for at least 10-15 minutes before whipping heavy cream to stiff peaks. It helps the cream to whip up quicker.
- Whip – using a hand-held mixer/whisk, whip heavy cream and caramel sauce mixture until stiff peaks forms.
- Transfer – caramel whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a 1M pastry tip. Place piping bag in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Salted Caramel Brioche Doughnuts – Bringing It All Together
- Transfer – salted caramel pastry cream into a piping bag fitted with a round pastry tip.
- Slit – using a small paring knife, make a small slit into the top of each of the 8 doughnuts pushing the knife about 2/3 the way down into doughnuts. Take care to not have the knife go through the opposite end of doughnut.
- Fill – each of the doughnuts with the salted caramel pastry cream just until the filling starts to slightly pop out of slit opening. Doughnuts will start to feel heavy once it is properly filled.
- Pipe – retrieve caramel whipped cream from refrigerator and pipe some of the cream over the opening of each doughnut. Sprinkle top of piped cream with mini chocolate chips/shaving (optional).
Salted Caramel Brioche Doughnuts
These salted caramel brioche doughnuts are the perfect combination of a fluffy brioche doughnut filled with a sweet and salty caramel pastry cream.
- Prep Time: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 60 Minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 Doughnuts 1x
Ingredients
Brioche Doughnuts
- 1 Cup-11/4 Cup (125 g-156 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, Divided
- 1 Cup (125 g) Unbleached Bread Flour
- 1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons (130 g) Granulated Sugar, Divided
- 1 1/8 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Large Egg, Room Temperature
- 1/2 Cup (125 ml) Milk
- 1/4 Cup (2 oz) Unsalted Butter, Melted, Room Temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Honey
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 6–8 Cups Vegetable Oil, for frying doughnuts
Salted Caramel Pastry Cream
- 1 1/2 Cups (375 ml) Milk
- 1/4 Cup (88 g) Caramel Sauce, Homemade/Store-Bought
- 3 Large Egg Yolks
- 3 Tablespoons (45 g) Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (18 g) Cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons (15.6 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Tablespoons (1 oz) Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2–3/4 Teaspoon Salt
Caramel Whipped Cream
- 1/2 Cup (125 ml) Heavy Cream, Cold
- 1 Tablespoon (22g) Caramel Sauce
- Mini Chocolate Chips/Chocolate Shaving, Optional
Instructions
Brioche Doughnuts – Day 1
- Warm milk and honey to 110-115F (43-46C) either on stovetop or in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Transfer warmed milk-honey mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Mix yeast into mix-honey mixture and allow to sit for 10 minutes or until mixture takes on a foamy, bubbly appearance.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the bread flour, 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons (30 g) sugar and salt. Lightly whisk to combine.
- In a standard measuring cup/small bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.
- With the dough hook attached on stand mixer, add egg mixture into bowl with the activated yeast and mix at medium speed (4 on stand mixer).
- Reduce speed on mixer to low (2 on stand mixer) and add dry ingredients into liquid mixture. Continue to mix on low until dough starts to come together and form into a ball.
- Increase speed to medium (4 on stand mixer) and knead dough for 6 minutes. Dough will be soft and tacky to touch. If brioche dough is too soft and not holding its shape, add additional 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon at a time. May not need to use all of the additional flour, just use enough to prevent dough from being too sticky and more manageable to work with.
- Transfer dough to a generously floured surface and shape into a ball.
- Grease a large mixing bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of oil and place ball of dough in bowl.
- Use hand to turn and flip brioche dough in greased bowl. You want all sides of the dough to be coated in oil.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm part of kitchen to rest and rise until it has doubled in size for at least one hour.
- Gently punch down dough, place a dampen sheet of paper towel over bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
Brioche Doughnuts – Day 2
- Cut a large sheet of parchment paper into 8 squares, about 3”x 3”. It does not need to be precise. Individually arrange squares on a large baking sheet.
- Retrieve brioche dough from the refrigerator and transfer to a generously floured surface. Use a bench scrapper or sharp knife to cut into 8 equal pieces of dough.
- Shape each piece of dough into a ball by rolling dough against a clean surface under a cupped hand.
- Place each ball of brioche dough onto pre-cut squares of parchment paper. Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
- Place baking sheet in a warm part of kitchen and allow balls of brioche dough to rest and rise until doubled in sized, about 60-90 minutes.
- Add remaining 1/2 cup (120g) sugar into a shallow dish and set aside. Line a cooling rack with two layers of paper towels. Place cooling rack near side of stove where doughnuts will be fried.
- Attach a candy/fry thermometer to a deep bottom medium sized pot. Fill pot with 6-8 cups of oil and heat oil under medium heat to 325-350F (163-177C). Carefully monitor oil. You do not want the temperature to go above 350F(177C).
- In batches of one to two, carefully place risen balls of brioche dough top side down into oil. Use kitchen tongs to peel parchment square off the back of dough. Fry brioche dough 2 minutes per side. Doughnuts will be a rich golden-brown color when ready.
- Using a slotted/spider spoon, transfer fried brioche doughnuts to prepared cooling rack and continue process until all the doughnuts are fried.
- Coat all sides of warm brioche doughnuts in sugar and place on a large serving plate/cooling rack until ready to fill with pastry cream.
Salted Caramel Pastry Cream
- In a medium mixing bowl, add egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and flour. Whisk ingredients together until mixture resembles a thick yellow paste.
- Pour milk into a medium saucepan and heat through just until hot but not boiling.
- Slowly pour and whisk a 1/2 cup (125 ml) of the heated milk into egg mixture. Once thoroughly mixed, proceed with whisking in the remaining milk.
- Pour custard mixture back into saucepan and cook stirring constantly until it registers 160F (71C) on a kitchen thermometer and has thickened up to the consistency of pudding.
- Pass warm pastry cream through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean medium mixing bowl.
- Whisk in butter, caramel sauce, vanilla extract, and salt into warm pastry cream. Allow salted caramel pastry cream to cool slightly 10-15 minutes.
- Cover the surface of salted caramel pastry cream with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. You want the whole top surface of the pastry cream covered with plastic wrap to prevent the formation of a skin during refrigeration.
Caramel Whipped Cream
- Add cold heavy cream and caramel sauce into a cold small mixing bowl. I like to chill mixing bowl in freezer for at least 10-15 minutes before whipping heavy cream to stiff peaks. It helps the cream to whip up quicker.
- Using a hand-held mixer/whisk, whip heavy cream and caramel sauce mixture until stiff peaks forms.
- Transfer caramel whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a 1M pastry tip. Place piping bag in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Assembly
- Spoon salted caramel pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a round pastry tip.
- Using a small paring knife, make a slit into the top of each of the 8 doughnuts pushing the knife about 2/3 the way down into doughnuts. Take care to not have the knife go through the opposite end of doughnut.
- Fill each of the doughnuts with the salted caramel pastry cream just until the filling starts to slightly pop out of slit opening. Doughnuts will start to feel heavy once it is properly filled.
- Retrieve caramel whipped cream from refrigerator and pipe some of the cream over the opening of each doughnut. Sprinkle top of piped cream with mini chocolate chips/shaving (optional).
Notes
- If brioche dough is too soft and not holding its shape, add an additional 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon at a time. May not need to use all of the additional flour, just use enough to prevent dough from being too sticky and more manageable to work with.
- Brioche dough will be soft and tacky to touch. To assist with transferring dough from mixing bowl to floured surface, use a spoon and slightly wet fingertips. Dough will be easier to work with after overnight refrigeration. Do not skip overnight refrigeration! It is very important to help shape brioche dough into doughnuts.
- Ensure that all sides of brioche dough are coated with some of the oil from greased bowl to prevent dough from drying out during first rise.
- Before overnight refrigeration, place a dampen sheet of paper towel over the surface of bowl before covering with plastic wrap. The dampen paper towel will help collect any condensation and prevent water droplet from falling directly onto dough.
- To shape cut brioche dough into balls, roll each piece of cut dough with a cupped hand against a clean surface until a smooth ball forms, about 1 minute.
- I highly recommend investing in a candy/deep fry thermometer. It will help greatly to monitor the temperature of oil which should be maintained between 325-350F(163-177C) when frying doughnuts.
- Warm brioche doughnuts should be rolled in sugar to coat; however, doughnuts should be cooled completely before filling with salted caramel pastry cream.
- I used this recipe for the caramel sauce but left out the spices. Left over sauce maybe stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 month. May also use store-bought caramel sauce.
- In place of salted caramel pastry cream, brioche doughnuts may be filled with other great options like jam, Nutella or lemon curd.
- If you would like to fill brioche doughnuts with vanilla pastry cream instead of salted caramel pastry cream, simply leave out caramel sauce and increase vanilla extract to 1 tablespoon. To lightened up vanilla pastry cream, whip up 1/4 cup (60 ml) of heavy cream to stiff peaks and fold into vanilla pastry cream before piping into brioche doughnuts.
- Salted caramel brioche doughnuts are best eaten the day it is prepared.
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