Winter of the World and Doughnuts Again!

For the first book in Ken Follett's Century trilogy I made the original WWI "doughboy" doughnuts.  When it came time to pick a dish for the second book in the series - Winter of the World - I was a bit stumped.  The novel picks up a few years after the first book left off and focuses on World War II.  Kinda hard to pick an appropriate dish when the novel contains so much suffering told from the perspective of Russians, Germans, English and Americans fighting in the war or victimized by it.  The only choice that seemed right to me was doughnuts in coffee - when the American, Woody Dewar, is set to storm Normandy the next day the only thing he can manage to eat is a doughnut and coffee.  The only other food in the book that seemed somewhat appropriate were the dried figs that Lloyd Williams, a British intelligence officer, was able to eat as he helped people escape Nazi occupied Western Europe during the height of the war.  So I combined the two and made fig speckled buttermilk donuts with coffee glaze.  As for the book, it was an engaging follow up by Follett that would especially attract 20th century history buffs.  It continues my trend of late to read really hefty books - it weighs in at over 900 pages.

Ken Follett's Century trilogy tells the story of five families throughout the 20th century.  The first book focused on the WWI, the 20's and rise of the labor movement.  Winter of the World picks up in the 30's as the Nazi's gain popularity in Germany, the Bolshevik revolution enters adolescence in Russia and Roosevelt tries to save America with the New Deal.  Oh, and WWII is fast approaching.  The novel picks up with the children of the main characters from book one: Daisy Peshkov, an American party girl, Greg Peshkov, her illegitimate ambitious half-brother, Woody Dewar, a innocent Senator's son, Lloyd Williams, the left leaning son of a maid and English Earl, Carla von Ullrich, an idealist Berlin teenager and Volodya Peshkov, a young rising communist in Moscow.  As with the first book, Follett finds ways to make the lives of these young people from disparate parts of the world intersect.  With each character Follett deftly manages to merge the personal and the historical - getting into real detail on the historical events that they are witness too.  Follett covers the lead up to and the actual war from all angles - the eastern front, the misery and horror in Berlin, the war in the pacific and the American entry into Western Europe.  Follett also covers the home front - the London Blitz and the inner workings of the Roosevelt White House.  Follett is stronger when the book is a serious telling of historical events, less strong in the personal relationships.  The romance portions of the book (which are many), can sometimes be cringe-worthy.   In addition, the inner dialogue Follett gives his characters feels a bit dumbed down - think Robert Langton in a Dan Brown book.  Depsite this, I gobbled the book up- the subject matter is just so fascinating and the characters are certainly intriguing enough to keep you engaged.  The novel takes us through the war, with lots of foreboding, to the eve of the Cold War.  I look forward to the next installment and how I can use it as another excuse to make some more doughnuts!

Fig Buttermilk Doughnuts with Coffee Glaze, adapted from The Craft of Baking (Karen DeMasco)
(printable recipe)
Adding little bites of fig to standard a buttermilk cake doughnut lifts this doughnut to sophisticated new heights.  What takes it even further is a strong coffee glaze, making this not your hum drum every day doughnut.   If you have not made doughnuts before this would be a good introduction - with cake doughnuts there is no yeast and no waiting for the dough to rise. A word of warning this dough is very wet, and the freezing and chilling time are absolutely necessary.  But they are so worth the effort! 

Ingredients
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil
3 and 3/4 cup of cake flour plus more for dusting
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
zest of 1 lemon
1 and 1/2 cups chopped dried fig (other dried fruits would be good too)
For glaze
 1 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water

Peanut oil for frying

Directions:

1. Whisk together in a bowl the buttermilk, egg and egg yolks and grapeseed oil.
2. In another bowl sift 2 cups of flour.
3. In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment combine the remaining 1 and 3/4 cup of flour, sugar, baking powder, baking sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon zest.  
4. Mix on low speed to combine these dry ingredients.
5. Add the buttermilk mixture and mix on low to combine.
6. Add the chopped fig and stir on low until incorporated.
7. Remove bowl from mixture and fold in the 2 cups of sifted flour.
8. The dough will be sticky.  Remove it to a piece of wax or parchment paper and pat into a disk.
9. Put a second piece of paper on top and then roll the dough out between the paper to an 8-10 inch rectangle (3/4 an inch thick.)
10. Put the dough (still between the paper) on a baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes.
11. Remove the dough from freezer and remove top sheet.  Dust the top with flour, then flip and remove the second sheet.  
12. The dough is ready to cut.  First spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
13. Cut the dough using a 3 inch round cutter and then for the whole I use the large end of a jumbo pastry tip (the one you would use to make profiteroles).  Cut out the dough and place the doughnuts and doughnut holes on the greased baking sheet.  
14. Re-roll scraps and cut, you should have 13 doughnuts.
15. Cover the doughnuts with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
16. In a large dutch oven or other high sided pot heat about 2 inches of oil over medium heat.
17. While the oil is heating (or before you turn it on!), prepare the glaze by stirring together the espresso water and the powdered sugar.  If you don't like the consistency add more sugar to make it thicker or water to make it thinner.  Pour the glaze in a shallow dish that you can dip the doughnuts in.
18. Prepare a plate or tray with paper towels for draining.
19. You want the oil to reach 375 degrees on a candy thermometer before frying.
20. When the oil is ready, carefully drop 3 doughnuts in the oil at a time, fry for about 1 and 1/2 minutes a side, turning with a implement that can take high heat.
21. The doughnuts should be golden brown.  Remove to the paper towels and drain and cool down a bit.  Continue cooking the doughnuts, checking the temperature to make sure it doesn't climb to high  (burnt ) or drop too low (greasy).
22. When you can comfortably handle them, dip the doughnuts in the glaze and then remove to wire rack to set.