Heat the 30ml/1oz milk to 37C/98.6F and add sugar and sprinkle with yeast and allow to become frothy (between 5-10 minutes). Add the flour and stir and then add the hot milk, butter, eggs, vanilla and salt and knead until elastic. It will be quite a sticky dough. Place in a very large bowl (it will swell up high) and cover and allow to rise for 1.5 hours or until triple in size.

While it is rising, make the crème patissiere. Heat the milk in a saucepan until almost boiling. Meanwhile whisk the sugar, cornflour, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. When the milk is hot enough, add around a third of the milk to the egg mixture to temper it whisking while you add it. Then place the tempered egg and milk mix back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk and return to a low heat. Stir to make sure that it comes together evenly and it should take under 5 minutes to get a thick custard. Place in a bowl and place cling film on top touching the surface so that a skin doesn't form and cool completely.

Punch down the dough when it is ready and flour a surface and roll the dough out until an inch thick. Cut out rounds with a 6cm/2.4 inch cutter placing them apart about an inch and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Heat oil to 180C/350F in a large pot and add three donuts at a time to the oil. Keep checking the oil temperature and adjust it up and down to keep it at 180C/350F. Place on a double paper towel lined tray and allow to rest for a few minutes before rolling in the extra sugar.

Place your fillings in a piping bag and using a small, sharp knife cut into the side of a donut and pipe the filling in. I put some jam, then the custard and then some jam again so that you can see from a glance what the filling is. Serve while warm!