How to make Doughnuts
Doughnuts are, in my own words, ‘besetting sins’. They just know how to make a pastry-lover check out and in of diet plans; more out than in though… but I guess “if it makes you happy, do it” right? Lol…
Prep time: 1 hr
Cook time: 30 mins
Servings: 13 doughnuts
Ingredients:
5 cups flour
4 tsp. bakers’ yeast
1 cup milk (already dissolved in water)
2 tbsp. butter/margarine, Melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg, whisked
1/2 tsp salt
Groundnut Oil for deep frying
Preparation:
- In a small bowl, pour the sugar into the milk and mix with a spoon to dissolve
- In a medium sized empty bowl, pour about two cups of Flour, Yeast, Salt – Mix together. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk/sugar mixture and mix with a spatula. Rinse the milk bowl with about 1/2 a cup of water and add to the batter then mix gently to make a semi thick paste.
- Add the Melted butter and whisked egg into the batter and mix to incorporate
- Gently fold in the rest of the flour till you have stretchy dough. Ditch the spatula, wash your hands, bring out the dough and place on a work surface – knead the dough with clean hands. if the dough feels sticky, add some flour and knead some more. The dough should have a non-sticky, stretchy feel like chewing gum.
- Once you’ve achieved the right feel, roll the dough into a ball with your hands and place in the bowl it was mixed in. Cover with a cloth and leave to stand for about 30 mins
- By the time you open up the cloth, the dough would have risen and doubled in size. Take it out, and knead again.
- Flour the work surface and rolling pin then roll out the dough till it’s about 1/3 the height of your pinky finger (last finger).
- With the large and smallest round cutters, cut the dough into the unique round shape. If you don’t have cutters, you could use a small round bowl and a plastic bottle cover. Keep about two of the middle cutouts; you’d need those later to test the oil. For jam doughnuts, you’d need just the larger cutter or bowl.
- In a deep fryer or small pot with dept, heat the oil till hot. You can test if the oil is ready by dropping one of the small cutouts into the hot oil. If it rises to the surface then it’s ready. Deep fry the doughnuts till golden brown, making sure you don’t crowd the fryer.
- Remove from the fryer and drain on a paper towel
Tip: Sprinkle with sugar, Fill with jam or syrup (for jam doughnut), Dip in icing sugar and sprinkle with colored candies… and Serve with cold or hot Beverage.