Brioche. It's a delicious, buttery bread that should be eaten moderately. But when you make brioche dough from scratch, it's easier said than done! It's been months since I've played with yeast and I've been meaning to make the following recipe for awhile. What's great about this dough is it's versatility. I'm all about taking a base recipe that can be transformed into so many other things and this brioche dough is no exception.

Coming up over the weekend, I'll be using the same dough to make some chocolate cream filled beignets, but today I used this dough to make cranberry orange doughnuts...

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
8 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.
Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours to proof.
Once it's had it's first rise, place the dough in the refrigerator to chill (at least 20-30 minutes) until ready to use. If the dough doesn't chill, it's just too sticky to work with!

To make doughnuts using the brioche dough:
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
1/2 cup dried cranberries
pot of hot oil for frying
powdered sugar for dusting

Take 1/4 of the prepared dough recipe above and place on a floured surface.
Add the zest and cranberries on top of the dough and gingerly mix in to incorporate, using flour to prevent sticking.
Roll pieces of the dough into small balls.
Heat up your oil and when hot, carefully place a few of dough balls into the hot oil. They will puff up as they fry.
Turn the doughnuts over to brown evenly on all sides.
Removed the doughnuts once it reaches a nice browned color and place on paper towels.
Immediately dust the doughnuts with powdered sugar while hot.
Serve hot or warm and enjoy!