The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.
I have never deep fried anything in my life!!! this last summer I went to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time where I'm pretty sure anything you could ever dream of deep frying can be found and tasted. I am personally not a fan of deep frying but I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought about making doughnuts for a very long time.
Given that I am a novice at deep frying and that I was only going to feed Nate and my lab I decided I would only make one kind of doughnut and then, depending on how it went try another recipe sometime later.
I settled on the yeast doughnut recipe courtesy of Alton Brown.
Truth be told, doughnuts are pretty easy to make and pretty darn delicious. Aside from the stickiness of the doughnut making them slightly difficult to handle, everything was cake! The doughnuts turned out perfect--light, airy and although I was originally worried about the amount of nutmeg the recipe called for it added a nice nutty richness that balanced the sweetness from the icing and cinnamon-sugar that I used as toppings.
Yeast Doughnuts:
Ingredients:
1½ cup Milk
1/3 cup Vegetable Shortening
1/3 cup Vegetable Shortening
4.5 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1/3 cup Warm Water (95°F to 105°F )
2 Eggs, Large, beaten
1/3 cup Warm Water (95°F to 105°F )
2 Eggs, Large, beaten
¼ cup White Granulated Sugar
1.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg, grated
4 2/3 cup All Purpose Flour
Canola Oil – you want 3 inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)
1.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg, grated
4 2/3 cup All Purpose Flour
Canola Oil – you want 3 inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)
1) Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2) Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3) In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
4) Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5) Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6) Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7) Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8) On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9) Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10) Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F.
11) Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
12) Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.
Vanilla Glaze:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Whole Milk (I used enough to make it smooth)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups Confectioners' Sugar
1) Combine milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat until warm.
2) Sift confectioners' sugar into milk mixture. Whisk slowly, until well combined.
3) Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water.
4) Dip doughnuts into the glaze, 1 at a time, and set on a draining rack.
Cinnamon-Sugar Coating:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1) Combine both in a bowl and toss doughnuts in mixture to coat.
Enjoy!
