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.
In this month’s challenge, I conquered 2 of my fears: yeast and frying. I decided to try out the regular glazed doughnuts and I think they turned out pretty good. I only burned myself once! Some of them were better than others depending on the thickness. The thinner ones weren’t as fluffy (obviously) but the glaze made up for it. These are definitely best eaten within a few hours because they’ll dry out and get a bit hard. But make sure you dip them in the glaze while they’re still warm! Gooey sugar is never a bad thing, especially on fried dough.
The recipe is from Alton Brown, the man knows his food stuff.
Yeast Doughnuts- This recipe makes 20-25 doughnuts. Since I don’t really want E to eat that many in a day, I cut it in half.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 1/2 ounces vegetable shortening, approximately 1/3 cup
- 2 packages instant yeast
- 1/3 cup warm water (95 to 105 degrees F)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 23 ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surface
- Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying (1 to 1/2 gallons, depending on fryer)
Directions
1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. 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.
3. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well. 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. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
4. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring and using a 7/8-inch ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan.
*Notes- I don’t have a stand mixer yet (it’s on the way though!) so I just used my hand mixer and it was pretty hard but it got the job done. Also, I don’t own a fryer so I just used a big cast iron skillet and it worked perfectly. And I don’t know how the heck to measure the rolled dough to 3/8 in. so I just guessed.
I used P Dub’s glaze recipe (the Pioneer Woman, love).
Glaze
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar
- ½ teaspoons Salt
- ½ teaspoons Vanilla
- ½ cups Cold Water Or Milk
Just mix all ingredients together and dip each side of the doughnut into glaze. Place onto rack to let drip.
