Confessions of a Bake-a-holic!

Have you heard this ???? - “Between the optimist and the pessimist, the difference is droll. The optimist sees the doughnut; the pessimist the hole!” - Oscar Wilde

Its the 27th again and I am all set for this month’s Daring Baker’s Challenge. This time there was no baking, it was a wonderful Doughnut Challenge. I love simple doughnuts with powdered sugar sprinkled on the top. And I must say they taste best when hot. Thanks to my Mom who helped me make this!

Doughnut is a sweet deep fried snack which is very popular across most countries. Some have them as an evening snack and some take it for breakfast. The most popular ones are the ring shaped ones and other one being the flat ones with some creamy filling. Also Doughnuts are made in various sizes and shapes. I ended up with the regular ones which are so simple and easy to make.

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.

I reduced the recipe into half as I didn’t want to make too many of them.This is how I made them:

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: 12 to 15 doughnuts & 12 to 15 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients
Milk - 180 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/6 cup
Active Dry Yeast - 2.5 teaspoon (1pkg)
Warm Water - 40 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 1
White Granulated Sugar 30 ml
Table Salt - 1/2teaspoon
Nutmeg, grated 1/2 tsp
All Purpose Flour 2 1/4 cup
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Directions:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. 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.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6. 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 (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Mine took almost 2.5hrs to rise. I kept it in the refrigerator and continued with the rest of the steps the next day.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.

11.Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).

12.Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

I didn’t allow it to cool for long as I was too tempted to have them immediately. Sprinkle some Powdered Sugar and enjoy!!!

Verdict : These were just perfect like the store bought ones.Simple yet so tasty!!! I went nuts over Doughnuts….did you???