The foundation of the Prove It blend are barrels from 2023 that have been in the barrel rooms “lean to” since the juice was pressed back in the late autumn of 2023.

508-1/23 was a Dabinett/Michelin blend with 10% Foxwhelp in first fill Irish whisky barrel

508-5/23 was a the same Dabinett/Michelin blend but in a second fill white wine barrel

56/23, 57/23 and 58/23 are all a blend and in first fill Irish whisky barrels.

Blended together they give a really rich, ripe red apple chewy and full in the mouth, with a soft coat of vanilla and oak and the vibrant lick of the spirit barrel and the zing of Foxwhelp.

Overtime the gravity had dropped to .098 which required a small amount of residual sugar to bring it up to the the top end of dry in terms of sweetness.

This was filtered, bottled, carbonated by our prosecco carbonator and pasteurised.

THAT WAS THE CIDER BUT BELOW IS THE REAL REASON FOR PROVE IT – BRETT ST CLAIR’S APPLE CIDER DOUGHNUTS AND HERE IS THE RECIPE FOR YOUR DELIGHT AND GLUTON.

The recipe is made with Townsend Discovery juice (as that’s what I’ve had to hand, but any aromatic, forceful apple juice should work).

Pre-ferment:

250g strong flour

250g apple juice

5g fresh yeast

Mixed together and then cold proved (in the fridge) overnight

Dough:

All the pre ferment

750g strong flour

400g apple juice

20g fresh yeast

60g panela sugar

20g sea salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

125g browned butter

Sugar for rolling

The dough is mixed in three stages. First the ferment, flour, apple juice and yeast worked to full development, before adding the salt and sugar and then finally the browned butter and spices. The dough then has a short prove at room temperature before spending the night in the fridge to slow prove.

In the morning the dough is lightly rolled out and cut with a doughnut cutter before another prove (around an hour). Finally they’re fried in rapeseed oil at 190 degrees c (around 4-5 minutes). Drained and rolled in sugar while still warm.

Best,

Brett

Two Trees Cider & Perry