Modochis (Mochi donut): When your kids are on spring break...

It's the time of year when my kids are on spring break, and I take it upon myself to obsess and perfect some dish since I'm with the kids so much. I have a lot of taste testers as I can use my own three and other families are home more and in need of a break so I even have a few more testers.

This year's obsession (last year's was boba tea) was a donut made with mochi flour. I've been debating a good old yeast donut for a while, but haven't had the chance to work through all the steps of dough making a yeast donut. I heard about mochi donuts and took it upon myself to mess around with the stuff until I got something that I liked.

There were three uneven, not-so-skilled batches, and then there were the final four with subtle, yet meaningful differences. What would the ideal texture be inside? How should it look when you broke it open? How crispy should the outside be? What kind of finish should it have? Children, Friends, and I explored the various permutations and silently, I cursed my obsessive nature as it came into direct conflict with my healthy side. Fried dough? Come on! It just TASTES so good! And it can be worked off...later, so don't worry about it. You just need to make this perfect so that you can stop making it! My healthy side simply whimpered in defeat as it couldn't combat the deliciousness of a mochi donut...7 times over.

When you make the mochi donut, SURROUND YOURSELF WITH FRIENDS who will prevent you from eating the entire batch ALL ON YOUR OWN! It gets dangerous and you will thank me for this warning.

And now, on to the modochi itself. The modochi has a crispy exterior and an amazing chewy interior. When you bite into it, it doesn't collapse under your teeth but rather springs back at you forcing you to really commit to your bite. And that springiness and chew is what keeps bringing you back for more and more, because it's not soft dough -it's dough with character. And it keeps reminding you that you want more, all the time, and that is its weapon.

The trickiest part of the mochi dough has to do with temperature. There is the temperature of the mochi dough itself and the temperature of the oil. Both are important to take seriously, because not taking those two aspects seriously will yield to modochis that are dark and that can be used as a golf ball. Neither is really that desirable to stick in your mouth. Your oil should be steady at around 375 degrees F and your milk needs to be scalded (nearly boiling) before being to your flour mixture. If you bear these two crucial facts in mind, the rest is pretty easy (but maybe a little sticky.)

A final note, a mixer is your friend. I cannot imagine doing this with your arms by hand, but it can be done...your arms may never be the same after, but it can be done.

Gather a few friends around and have loads of fun! You won't regret it.

Modochi
Makes 20 donut holes

Donut Ingredients
1 lb box sweet rice flour ~~(mochiko - I prefer Koda Farms brand)~~ after further testing, the preferred mochi flour is actually THAI flour, which yields a fluffier texture.
¼ cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup (half a stick) unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten together

Method
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook (if you have) or in your mixing bowl, whisk together sweet rice flour, white sugar and baking powder.

In either a pot over medium heat, or in a microwave safe cup, cut up butter into small chunks and add milk. The goal is to scald the milk at the same rate as melt the butter. Heat milk and butter to steaming, but not boiling. (My microwave accomplishes this in 1 minute 52 seconds.)

In the middle of your rice flour mixture, pour in heated milk butter mixture and begin beating for 2 minutes. The rice flour will look strange at first but after 2 minutes you should begin seeing some clumps coming together. Add beaten eggs and scrape down sides of bowl and begin beating the dough for 8 minutes on medium high, to get everything into a sticky yet workable mess.

In a pot, heat oil to 350F. (I like smaller deeper pots with fewer donuts to fry in order to save oil, but if you like to fry them all at once, get a shallower wider pot.) Oil your hands with spray oil (quickest way) and rub palms and fingertips together. Scoop about a golf ball amount of dough and roll into a ball. Once oil is the right temperature drop into oil. The modochi will sink to the bottom first and cook there for about 2 minutes and then float up to the top for the last 6 minutes of cooking time. While the modochi is on the bottom, give a quick stir so that the modochi doesn’t stick to the bottom. Total cooking time for a donut hole is about 8 minutes.

Once donut is nice and golden and beautiful even in color, remove from oil and drain on a rack over a tray. Continue rolling donuts until all are cooked. While donuts are still warm either glaze them or roll them in a sugar cinnamon mixture.

Serve warm or later in the same day. Modochis do NOT like being eaten the next day.

Glaze Ingredients (enough for 20 modochi)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Whisk together melted butter, powdered sugar, water and vanilla extract until glaze is uniform and smooth. Dip donuts into glaze and roll around and then allow to dry on a drying rack.

Cinnamon Sugar Ingredients (enough for 20 modochi)
¼ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk together cinnamon and sugar. Roll still warm donuts into mixture. Set aside to cool.

Printable recipe