Korean Churros

Recipe Video

**If you are not using instant yeast, but active dry yeast, be sure to proof your yeast.  Here are instructions on how to proof your yeast.  Just make sure to subtract the amount of sugar from the recipe before adding proofed yeast to dry ingredients.

Cooking Time: 195 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Intermediate
Servings Amount: 8

Recipe Lead: A Korean twist to a Mexican favorite!

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp vegan butter
• 2 1/4 instant yeast
• 1 cup non-dairy milk
• 5 tbsp sugar (1 for dough and 4 for cinnamon sugar)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp aquafaba (chickpea brine)

1.  In a sauce pan, over medium heat, melt vegan butter.  Add non-dairy milk and sugar.  Stir until sugar has dissolved.  Remove from heat.
2. In a medium sized bowl, stir flour, salt, and instant yeast.  To dry ingredients, add aquafaba (whipped to a froth) and vanilla.
3. Slowly pour in warm milk mixture.  Stir with wooden spoon until dough starts to form.
4. Knead the dough into a rough ball (it will be very tacky).  Cover and let it sit somewhere slightly warm (like the inside of the microwave or oven–turned off) for one hour or until dough doubles in size.
5. Punch dough to release gas and knead back into a ball.  Add flour, as necessary, if dough is too sticky to handle.  over and let it sit somewhere slightly warm (like the inside of the microwave or oven–turned off) for one hour or until dough doubles in size.
6. Punch dough to release gas and knead back into a ball, adding flour as necessary.  Divide dough into four quarters.  Please 3 quarters under saran wrap so the surface remains soft.
7. Divide remaining quarter into halves (i.e., 1/8 of the entire dough).  On a slightly floured surface, roll dough into a rope, approximately 10-12 inches long, starting from the middle (so that the middle is slightly thinner than the ends).
8. Once the dough has been rolled to the desired length, begin rolling upwards with the right end of the rope, and rolling downwards with the left end of the rope, in order to create a tension in the dough.
9. Bring the two ends together, and the rope will twist naturally into a braid.  Continue to divide the dough, two pieces at a time, to form 8 braids.  Cover the braids with saran wrap.
10. Let each braid rise for approximately 15 minutes and then turn them over (so that one side doesn’t get flattened).
11. Using a deep pan, heat oil (I used canola oil) to 350 degrees.  Place 2-3 donuts (depending on how large your pan is) into oil and reduce temperature to 300 degrees.  Cook until golden brown on one side (~2 minutes) and flip.  Remove from oil when both sides are golden brown.
12. Place on cooling rack to drain excess oil and cool slightly.  In a large plastic ziploc bag, add 1 tbsp cinnamon and 4 tbsp of sugar and shake.  Add slightly warm donuts (I add two at a time) to bag and shake until donuts are covered in mixture.
13. Serve by themselves or with a side of fruit compote.