Making donuts at home

Going out for donuts is a fun Saturday morning event. If my family of 5 visits our local donut shop, and each orders 1 donut, at 90 cents per donut, that's $5, including tax.

Making donuts at home on a Saturday morning, is a fun activity, too. The atmosphere is festive, as we all anticipate their yummy crisp outsides, and warm, soft insides. I can make 10 donuts, 2 per person, with the following recipe, for a cost of about 5 cents a donut, or 50 cents total.

Yeast donuts are actually easy to make. The dough is forgiving, and doesn't require a lot of kneading. I don't even allow them to rise fully, on the counter, before frying. My French bread recipe has more yeast in proportion to flour, than my sandwich bread. This added yeast gives a good rise to French bread, pizza crust, and donuts, without a lengthy rise time.

When I use my French bread recipe for donuts, I up the sugar just a bit, to tenderize the dough and add a touch of sweetness. Here's how I make donut twists.

Donut Twists

for 10 twists:

3/4 cup warm (85 degrees or so, not hot) water
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
scant 1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1  3/4  to 1  7/8 cup flour (I use about 3/4 cup whole wheat and 1 cup white), adding extra flour, if needed, and to flour the counter
vegetable oil for frying.

In a large bowl, soften yeast in warm water. Allow to sit 3 minutes.

Stir in sugar, salt and oil. Begin mixing in flour, half at a time. After first addition of flour, beat well with a large spoon. Continue mixing in flour, until you have a soft dough. Add more flour, as needed. The dough will be only very slightly sticky. You should be able to coat the dough with a sprinkling of flour and have it stick just a little, or maybe not at all, to your hands. You don't want it so well-floured, that it is stiff and difficult to manipulate.

Knead gently in the bowl, for a minute. Sprinkle with a touch of flour and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Flour your counter. Divide dough into 10 equal pieces.

Roll/form each piece into a log about 5-6 inches long.

With a table knife, split this log, lengthwise, leaving 1/2-inch un-split.

Twist the 2 parts of the split log, to form a twisted rope. Pinch the ends together.

Set in a floured spot on your counter, to rise. Continue with the remaining pieces of dough. If you are not a perfectionist, the process goes very quickly!

Allow to rise for 15 minutes. Pour about 2 to 3 inches of oil, into your frying pot. Start heating your oil, over MED heat, in a heavy-bottom stock pot, or large saucepan, to 375 degrees. If you have a candy thermometer, use that to determine temperature. Without a thermometer, you can test-fry a 1-inch cube of white bread. It will brown in 60 seconds, if your oil is around 375 degrees F.

Your donut dough will not be completely risen, like as for a loaf of bread. It will puff up in the fryer. After 15 minutes of rise-time, carefully drop the twists into the hot oil. (I use my hands to lift the donut off the counter and drop into the oil, but then use a slotted spoon for turning or removing.) I fry in a stock pot, and like to fry 3 to 4 donuts at a time. Use a slotted spoon to turn the donuts after a couple of minutes. The underside should be medium golden brown. If your oil is deep enough, the twists will turn themselves, as they cook.

Remove from oil and drain on paper towels or brown paper bag. Allow to drain 2 to 3 minutes.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, powdered sugar, or, drizzle with a glaze. In the top photo, I had some leftover maple icing, that I thinned with milk for a maple glaze, for glazed donuts.

In October, I'll be making my pumpkin-spice donuts. They are THE snack, paired with hot apple cider, after a day of raking leaves. I'll post that recipe soon.