Brioche Doughnuts – Day 1

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.
2. Mix yeast into mix-honey mixture and allow to sit for 10 minutes or until mixture takes on a foamy, bubbly appearance.
3. 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.
4. In a standard measuring cup/small bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.
5. 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).
6. 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.
7. 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. 
8. Transfer dough to a generously floured surface and shape into a ball.
9. Grease a large mixing bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of oil and place ball of dough in bowl.
10. Use hand to turn and flip brioche dough in greased bowl. You want all sides of the dough to be coated in oil. 
11. 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.
12. Gently punch down dough, place a dampen sheet of paper towel over bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

Brioche Doughnuts – Day 2

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Shape each piece of dough into a ball by rolling dough against a clean surface under a cupped hand.
4. Place each ball of brioche dough onto pre-cut squares of parchment paper. Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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).
8. 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.
9. Using a slotted/spider spoon, transfer fried brioche doughnuts to prepared cooling rack and continue process until all the doughnuts are fried.
10. 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

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and flour. Whisk ingredients together until mixture resembles a thick yellow paste.
2. Pour milk into a medium saucepan and heat through just until hot but not boiling.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Pass warm pastry cream through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean medium mixing bowl.
6. Whisk in butter, caramel sauce, vanilla extract, and salt into warm pastry cream. Allow salted caramel pastry cream to cool slightly 10-15 minutes.
7. 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

1. 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.
2. Using a hand-held mixer/whisk, whip heavy cream and caramel sauce mixture until stiff peaks forms.
3. 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

1. Spoon salted caramel pastry cream into a pastry bag fitted with a round pastry tip.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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).