- If you love beignets
but have been nervous about making them at home, or have had issues making them
nice and light and fluffy, I'm going to show you how to make the most amazing, delicious
beignets you've ever had. What is up, my commis? Chef Billy Parisi here. And I teach you techniques and recipes so that you can make absolutely
anything from scratch. You'd better leave that
bogus beignet mix to the side because I'm gonna show you why homemade food just tastes better 'cause I'm bringing Cafe Du Monde from New Orleans straight to your kitchen, and we're doing it in partnership with my friends over at Bob's Red Mill. When it comes to beignets, the history is a little bit murky, and you know what? I don't really care where
they originated from because they're absolutely delicious and so incredibly easy to make. The first thing we are going
to do is add some warm water right to a stand mixer bowl or a regular bowl if you have it. I like to be on the higher
side, about 112 to 115 degrees, because that bowl oftentimes is cold and it's gonna drop
that to the perfect temp in between 105 and 110. Now go ahead and add in
some active dry yeast. We're next gonna sprinkle in some sugar for the yeast to feed on and grow. Give that a whisk just using a hand whisk. What we wanna do is let it sit for in between seven and 10 minutes for a nice little raft to form. But this is great timing
because we have one other thing we can quickly do while that
raft is getting set in place. So in a bowl, let's go ahead
and crack one whole egg, make sure it's large, get
it right into the bowl. And for a little bit more fat, a little bit more texture and flavor, we're gonna add one more egg yolk. This is going to significantly
help these beignets to be so fluffy, light, and delicious. Give it a little whisk
just until it's combined. No reason to over-whisk the eggs here. Now let's go back over
to our stand mixer bowl. You can see that raft that's forming. It's coming up about an
inch off of the water. This is perfect. It's rafting water, get it? It's awesome. Now that we are to this
perfect consistency, we're going to next add
in the rest of the sugar, some whole milk, those whisked eggs, and finally some melted unsalted butter. A little bit more fat, a little
bit more flavor, my friends. Go ahead and whisk this together
with that same hand whisk just until combined. Now attach it to your stand mixer, or if you're doing this by hand, get those hands ready 'cause
it's time to knit, my friends. Make sure the hook attachment is fixed right to the stand mixer. We're going to sprinkle in
a little bit of sea salt. And now we're gonna add in some Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour. Such a fantastic all-around flour. Great for rustic breads and
light and delicate enough for things like beignets or cakes. It is fantastic. Now that all of the
ingredients are in there, let's go ahead and pull
down the stand mixer. And then on medium to low speed, we just wanna mix it until it is smooth. It's gonna take about maybe two to three, even four minutes. You'll notice the dough will start to pull away from the bowl. This is perfect. This is exactly where you
want to be at this stage. So go ahead and remove
it from the stand mixer. We're gonna put it in a
nice, warm, dry place. It's summertime or, well, fall, so you still should be good here. Go ahead and add some plastic wrap or a nice kitchen towel overtop. We're going to let it rise for in between one and two hours, or until it has doubled in size. I know it can be hard to wait, but I promise you homemade
cooked food from scratch is worth it. These are going to blow your mind. We are baking some
goodness here, my friends. And with about 20 to 15 minutes left in that rising process, we're gonna start heating up our oil. I'm gonna be using a huge pot. Let's go ahead and add in some canola oil, or if you have another
neutral flavored oil. I've been told that cottonseed is the exact oil they
use down in New Orleans. It doesn't matter if you can't get it. Canola veggie, totally fine here. Put it on medium heat
because we need to get it up to 350 degrees. If you've got a candy
thermotonometer, fantastic. If you don't, hit it with a little flour, and if it starts to fry,
you're in good shape. Don't stress out about it. Not let's head back over to
our dough and take a peek. Pull that kitchen towel
or plastic wrap right off. It looks amazing, super light and fluffy, definitely doubled in size. This is perfect, my friends. Go ahead and dust a clean surface, whether it's your countertop
or a cutting board, with some flour. Now take that dough right out of the bowl, we're gonna put it on top of the flour. Pull and stretch it out of there, get every last little morsel of dough out. And now what we're gonna do is hit the top with a little bit of flour. And then, using your rolling
pin, we wanna roll this out until it's about 1/2
inch to 3/4 inch thick. So take the time to do this. It's so nice that's like a pillow that you're gonna be rolling on. It's amazing, it feels really cool. I'm so excited to try these. Once it is to this consistency, I'm gonna be using a pizza wheel. If you've got a knife, totally fine to do it on a cutting board. Don't you dare do it on a countertop. Don't use that knife on a
countertop, I'm telling you again. Because it will make your knife dull. Anyways, so what we're gonna is slice 1 1/2 inch to two-inch
squares or rectangles. Totally up to you here. Once they've been sliced, I'm
just gonna take a few of 'em, put 'em on a cookie sheet tray that's been lined with parchment paper. Now it's time to head over
to our huge pot of oil. We're gonna do this in batches. Obviously I don't have a
gigantic deep fryer here and I'm guessing you don't either. So add in in between
five and 10 at a time, whatever you can do to fill up
the pot without crowding it. And it only takes about
1 1/2 to two minutes to cook for side. So after you put them in there
you'll notice on the bottom, where the fryer oil is cooking the bottom part of the beignet, it'll start to turn a
nice, golden, dark brown. Once you see that, this is perfect timing to sort of flip them over. And I sort of use a spoon in the corner or on the edge of each beignet and sort of just give 'em a little poke and they flip right over with ease. This is the easiest way
I know how to do it. If you wanna use tongs, that
is totally fine as well. Once the beignets are completely cooked, we're gonna take them out of the oil and set them on paper
towels on a sheet tray. You can use parchment paper
as well, whatever you've got. You just wanna drain
some of that extra oil off of the beignets. Now let's bring them forward because it is time to flake these up. So I am just gonna put a
nice, healthy, fat serving right into a bowl. And then, in very traditional fashion, we are gonna sprinkle
on heavily, my friends. Let me say it again, heavily, powder sugar all over the top. Let it hit all parts of
the top of those beignets. It looks amazing. So light, so fluffy, absolutely delicious. And you can do this at
your house, my friends. I told you before and
I will tell you again. Homemade food from scratch isn't hard, it just takes a little bit more. And while I stuff my
face with these beignets, you better check out my
other favorite French dessert for creme brulee, and I will
catch you on that video. (gentle music)
