Sunday is the best day to tackle a crazy recipe, right? I love a good doughnut and I have wanted to attempt a batch at home for some time. When I finally decided to give making homemade doughnuts a go, I looked at a few different recipes to get a good idea of the basic ingredients I needed, most of which I already had in my kitchen. With nothing better to do on a late winter morning, I decided to try my hand at homemade doughnuts. Here’s a recipe to make delicious, fresh doughnuts at home. Enjoy!
Ingredients for cake doughnuts:
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 4 cups flour (plus a little more if necessary)
- Neutral oil (for frying)
Step 1: In a large bowl, mix the first four dry ingredients: sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
Step 2: Add eggs, milk and melted butter that has cooled slightly. Beat until all butter is incorporated.
Step 3: Add the flour to the egg and sugar mixture one cup at a time and beat until combined. The dough is ready when it’s soft and sticky, yet firm enough to handle.
Step 4: Cover and chill dough for at least one hour.
Step 5: Remove your dough from the fridge and begin heating about one inch of oil in a saucepan to 360 ºF. Please note: You might not think checking the temperature of your oil matters, but it does. If your oil is not hot enough, your doughnuts become greasy. If the oil is too hot, you crisp up the outside quickly while potentially not cooking the inside completely. Just get a candy thermometer. A skillet can also be used for frying, but I prefer using a saucepan so the oil doesn’t splatter everywhere and make a big mess in my kitchen.
Step 6: Roll half the dough out on a floured surface to about ½-inch thickness. Repeat with the second half. Then, to make doughnut holes, use a knife and a small circle cutter to cut sections of dough into little balls.
Step 7: When the oil reaches 360 ºF, begin gently dropping the dough into the saucepan in batches. After about a minute, use a slotted metal spoon to flip the doughnuts over and fry the other side for a minute or so until they are lovely golden brown confections.
Step 8: Remove doughnuts from saucepan and set them on a wire rack covered with paper towels to soak up excess grease. Repeat frying with the rest of the dough.
Step 9: When the doughnuts have cooled, top them with icing, chocolate, sprinkles or sugar. For this batch I chose to make two glazes—a Maple Bourbon Glaze with Bacon Bits and an Almond Lemon Glaze with Pistachios.
Frankie Schneckloth loves a good doughnut. (Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking.)
