God bless Alton Brown

Alton Brown, darling of the Food Network and all around culinary nerd, is not the end all and be all of cooking. Were someone looking to learn the craft of bread-making, and I mean REALLY good bread, I wouldn't turn to Mr. Brown for a deep exposé on baking the finest, naturally leavened sourdough. Because, frankly, he can only get his lessons crammed into one 30 minute span (with commercials).

But he does go by the primary tenant taught in the Pixar film Ratatouille, anyone can cook. That, and most importantly, he is full of tips and tricks skimmed over in most cookbooks.

After reading book after book after book on the bread baking, I was overconfident Mr. Brown would have little to offer me. But beyond the description of gluten and our disagreement about instant yeast, he had a number of points to share, mainly about letting the dough rest at a few key points to help things along. (Mix the dough until all the water is mixed in with the flour, then let it sit for 10 minutes before kneading.) Not to mention his scientific explanations, which are at the very least educational (and when people ask why I spin my pizza dough in the air, I can say "Alton said so!")

And then I soon discovered that he was really fantastic when it came to venturing into new culinary projects. If you haven't done it before, he's the man for the introduction, and convincing you again and again that anyone can cook.

It was with that confidence that a friend and I embarked on the long journey of yeast-leavened donuts with chocolate frosting. I won't leave you in suspense, just ogle at the results.


That's right, fatty, delicious, sugar coated little pastries of great delight, and I was amazed at how easy it was. If you're up for heating up a massive amount of oil (and willing to consume what ends up coming out of it) it's super easy, and super SUPER fun. Check out the assembly line.


Plus, a real good way to get on the good side of your roommates/spouses/friends. Who can resist the allure of a homemade donut?

The results were, of course, tasty, but I will confess that seeing the little droplets of grease on the plate after consumption was a little more than I wanted. But still. And the chocolate glaze was incredibly delicious. I didn't end thinking to myself "Well, it's good, but not like buying it at the store." Quite the contrary. It's far better.

Three tips I would add that, if Alton mentioned them, I don't remember it.

• 1) Get a bunch of friends over to eat them with you. You end up with a LOT of donuts in the end, and they're not anywhere near as tasty the next day. These are pastries meant to be eaten soon after cooking.


• 2) If coating the thing in chocolaty goodness seems like too much indulgence (who would think such a thing?) try a little sugar and a lot of cinnamon. Those were REALLY tasty.


• 3) Every time you rework the dough, it's just going to make the donuts tougher than you want. We ended up taking all the in between pieces and making donut holes out of them and coating them in the cinnamon-sugar combo. Very tasty.

And finally, here's the link to Mr. Brown's donut recipe.