Bigly Beignets
Prep
30m
Cook
15m
Total
45m
Bigly says
Folks. We are doing BEIGNETS — the Bigly beignets, the greatest pillows of fried dough ever to be drowned in powdered sugar on this side of the Mississippi. Nobody knows beignets better than me. Nobody. I have eaten more beignets than any person currently breathing, possibly more than any person who has ever breathed, and I have FEELINGS about them. Strong feelings. Beignet feelings.
I went to New Orleans. Tremendous city. Great food, great music, humidity that will melt a man right out of his shoes. Everyone goes to that one famous café — you know the one, the line wraps around the block, two hours of standing on a hot sidewalk for a B-plus beignet — and I went too, because research, because I am thorough. I sat down. I tried them. I respected the history. Then I went home, fired up my own kitchen, and made beignets that BEAT THEM. Not even close. People came up to me after, they said, 'Bigly, what was that.' I told them. I told them: that was a beignet that respects you. That was a beignet that didn't make you wait in a line behind a man in a Mardi Gras hat at 8 in the morning.
The secret — and I'm telling you for free, no popup, no 'enable notifications,' no autoplay video of a cooking influencer screaming at the camera, none of the disasters happening on the other food sites — is a yeasted dough, an overnight rest in the fridge, and oil at exactly 360 degrees. Not 350. Not 370. 360. The other sites will tell you 'somewhere around 350-375.' That is NOT A NUMBER. That is a feeling. We don't cook with feelings. We cook with thermometers. End of discussion.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cupwarm water (110°F)
- 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet)active dry yeast
- 1/4 cupgranulated sugar
- 1large egg
- 1/2 cupevaporated milk
- 3 1/2 cups, plus more for rollingall-purpose flour
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 2 tbspunsalted butter, melted
- about 2 quartsneutral oil for frying(peanut, canola, or vegetable)
- 2 cupspowdered sugar(and folks, MORE than that, beignets demand SNOW)
Steps
- 1
Stir the warm water, yeast, and 1 tbsp of the granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand 5-10 minutes, until foamy.
- 2
Whisk in the remaining sugar, egg, and evaporated milk.
- 3
Add the flour, salt, and melted butter. Mix with the dough hook on low until a soft, slightly tacky dough forms, about 5 minutes.
- 4
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours, or overnight. The cold rest is non-negotiable — it makes the dough easier to roll and the beignets puff better.
- 5
When ready to fry, pour 3 inches of oil into a heavy pot or Dutch oven and heat to 360°F. Line a rack or sheet pan with paper towels.
- 6
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface. Roll to about 1/4-inch thick.
- 7
Cut into 2 1/2-inch squares with a knife or pizza cutter. Do not re-roll scraps more than once or they get tough.
- 8
Fry the beignets 4-6 at a time, turning once, until deeply golden and puffed, about 1 minute per side. Adjust heat between batches to keep oil at 360°F.
- 9
Drain briefly on paper towels, then transfer to a serving plate and BURY in powdered sugar through a fine-mesh sieve. Serve immediately, hot.
One more thing
That's beignets. Real beignets. Hot pillowy squares of fried dough under a snowdrift of powdered sugar — eat them standing over the sink, eat them on a plate, eat them in the car, I don't care, just eat them HOT. Cold beignets are not beignets. Cold beignets are a memory. Make the dough the night before, fry them in the morning, and your kitchen will smell like a place people buy plane tickets to visit. They will fly TO YOU. The combover has seen it happen. And there you have it.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Beignets.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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