Doughnuts

Appropriately enough, I asked for a deep fryer for Chanukah.  Then I didn't have time to use it until after the holiday.  Merry Christmas!

Techie Smurf went a little overboard and got me the deluxe model that's twice as big as the one he has.  I'm not opening a donut shop.  Still, this project would have taken three times as long to fry with the slimmer model.  After the holes, I switched from the double basket to the full one and got in all four of the twists at once instead of one at a time.  And now I can fry my own tortilla chips, crispy won tons, and anything else I've been half-assing in skillets and saucepans.

The big thing I learned while doing this project is there's nothing to be afraid of.  Doughnuts sound all kinds of intimidating, but it's just a dinner roll recipe that you fry instead of bake.  I'm not kidding.  If you've ever made kick-ass rolls, or any other roll, the only difference is the cooking method.  Yes, I gave them the third level of difficulty, but that's for working with hot oil and three hours start to finish.

You also don't actually need a deep fryer to make these.  I asked for one because of the apple fritter incident.  If you can control your oil temperature on the stove, any heavy pot will do.  They actually made them in a pot on The Chew the day I opened the fryer.

This is a half-recipe out of the Bible.  It's almost identical to Alton Brown's, but he uses shortening instead of butter and doesn't put in cinnamon.  You don't really taste the spices, especially after glazing, which is the point.  In this case, the use of spice is to avoid any bland bites and not to add a definitive taste.

2-1/2 C flour
2 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 packet (2-1/2 tsp) yeast
1/2 C + 2 Tb milk
2 Tb butter
1 egg

1.  In a stand mixer with the paddle, combine salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1 cup of flour.  Separately, warm milk, butter, and sugar to 100º.  Butter does not need to melt.  Stir in yeast and allow to get foamy, about 5 minutes.

2.  Pour milk mixture into flour and beat into a thick, stringy batter for 2 minutes on medium.  Add egg and another cup of flour and beat again into a dough that comes off the paddle easily.  If you wish, you can switch to the dough hook for this second addition.  I didn't want to wash it.

3.  Turn out dough onto a surface floured with the remaining 1/2 cup.  Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Because this is an egg dough, it will always be a little sticky.  It's also going to be more firm than most of my dough recipes.  Don't worry about the extra weight.  Turn over ball in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

4.  Punch down dough and let rest for 10 minutes on a rolling surface.  I just didn't wash the pastry board after step 3 and there was enough flour to finish.  Or, you can add more as needed.

5.  Roll out dough to 1/4" thick.  Yes, that thin.  I guess I don't have Grandma Sophie's doughnut cutter anymore, so I experimented with the round cutters I do have, not knowing in which directions the dough would rise.  Turns out, it pretty much goes straight up, so I could have used the next size up for the outer ring.  (A quick side note: the point of cutting a hole is because a torus shape will fry evenly.  If you're doing solid, filled donuts, you just have to cook them longer so the center isn't doughy.). After cutting out round doughnuts and holes, transfer them to a lightly floured baking sheet to rise for 30 minutes.  You can re-roll the scraps because yeast dough doesn't get tough like cookie dough does.  I chose to form the scraps into ropes and make twists instead.

6.  Fill your pot or fryer with 1" of oil and heat to 370º.  Gently place the risen doughnuts into the oil and fry until lightly golden, about 2 minutes.  Turn and fry other side until it matches, slightly less time.  Remove to a paper towel-lined plate or a cooling rack so any excess oil can drip off.

7.  I went a little nuts with the decorating and made them all a little different.  If you're rolling in sugar, cinnamon sugar, chocolate sugar, powdered sugar, etc, do it while they're warm so the granules can stick to the oil.  To make a simple powdered sugar glaze, combine milk and powdered sugar to desired consistency.  Dip or roll cooled doughnuts in the glaze and allow to firm up for about 10 minutes.  You can add sprinkles, coconut, nuts, chopped bacon, etc while the glaze is soft.  To make a "maple" glaze, add brown sugar to the basic glaze.  I didn't have much luck with adding chocolate chips to the glaze and melting the whole thing together.  Better to use a regular ganache.  For simplicity's sake, it really is easier to make them all the same kind and just change up the sprinkles.

8.  Serve within 4 hours (uncooked milk in the glaze, plus they get stale) or freeze unglazed once cooled.  To revive, let defrost to room temperature, then freshen up in the toaster oven for a few minutes.  Glaze and serve.

Makes about 1 dozen, plus their holes

Difficulty rating :-0