ON DAY 1...

1. Make your homemade Lemon Curd. Recipe can be found here! You can make this ahead and store it in the fridge until needed.

2. Make your dough. Start by blooming your active dry yeast in warm buttermilk and 1 teaspoon of sugar for about 8 to 10 minutes. The yeast mixture should be frothy.

3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add bread flour, all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, frothy yeast mixture, 2 eggs, 1 yolk, melted butter, vanilla, malted milk powder, nutmeg. With a spatula, mix until the dough roughly comes together (will be shaggy).

4. Fit your stand mixer with a hook attachment and knead the dough on medium speed for 10 minutes. The dough should be shiny and elastic. At the end 10 minutes, the dough should pull from the sides of the bowl, but will stick to the bottom of the bowl. Do not be tempted to add extra flour, just let the stand mixer do all the work.

5. Coat your hands with oil and lift the dough out of the bowl and form it into a ball. Generously oil your bowl (I use the same one) and place the dough back in. Cover with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

ON DAY 2...

1.  Shape your donuts. Remove from the fridge and punch your dough down to deflate it and then transfer to a lightly floured surface. Portion into 12 equal pieces. Using a kitchen scale, measure each ball of dough to make sure they are as even as possible. Mine were about 70 grams each.
2. Grab a piece of dough and press it flat to get rid of any air bubbles. Then gather and pinch the edges together and place it on your work surface. Next, start rolling the dough into a ball with your hand in a “claw” shape. You’ll want the balls to be as tight and smooth as possible. Please watch the video below to see the technique. Place each ball of dough onto a 4×4 inch (10×10 cm) piece of parchment paper. I placed 6 to 8 donuts on each baking tray to give them more than enough room to proof.
3. Loosely cover with cling wrap and allow to proof for at least 1 hour or until they have doubled in size (mine took 1 hour and 10 minutes). Be careful not to overproof them as it can lead to dense and oily donuts. The best way to know if your donuts are fully proofed is to lightly press them with your finger. If the indentation holds and does not bounce back right away, they’re ready!

4. Prep your filling & coating. For the filling, whip your heavy cream to stiff peaks and then gently fold the lemon curd into the cream. Transfer the filling into a large piping bag or ziploc bag fitted with a pastry tip and keep in the fridge until needed. It's really important to keep the filling in the fridge as it loses volume and softens at room temperature.

   For the coating, combine white sugar and lemon zest into a shallow bowl or dish and set aside until needed.

5. Frying and finishing your donuts. With 20 minutes left of proofing, get your oil ready so that you can start frying right away. Fill a medium to large sized pot with at least 2 to 3 inches of vegetable shortening or neutral oil such as canola, vegetable, or avocado oil. Don't forget to clip a thermometer on the side of the pot to gauge the temperature.

   Line 2 wire racks with paper towels and set aside.

6. Once the oil reaches 360ºF (183ºF), fry 2 to 3 donuts at a time for 2 minutes on each side (set a timer). Try not to overcrowd the pot as it will bring the temperature down. I HIGHLY recommend using a thermometer to monitor the oil. As you’re frying them in batches, make sure the oil is to the specified temperature before frying the next batch. If the oil is too hot, turn your burner down and wait until it comes down. If the temperature dips down, turn the burner up.

7. Transfer cooked donuts onto a paper towel-lined cooling rack and allow to cool for a few minutes before rolling into your lemon sugar. Using a chopstick or small paring knife, create a small hole/pocket on the side of each donut and fill with your lemon curd cream. Devour right away and enjoy!!