Old-Fashioned Yeast-Raised Doughnuts

Yeast doughnuts are fried bakery products that are yeast-leavened, unlike traditional cake-style doughnuts that are chemically-leavened with baking powder and made with a cake batter. Yeast-leavened donuts are porous, resilient and have a bread-like crumb structure.

See below for making these common types of yeast doughnuts:

Old-Fashioned Yeast-Raised Doughnuts Recipe
Recipe courtesy Jean Anderson, https://www.foodnetwork.com/

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup scalded milk
2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
2 packets active dry yeast
3/4 cup sugar
5 cups sifted flour (approximately)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mace
Vegetable shortening or cooking oil, for deep fat frying

Topping: 1/2 cup superfine sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Melt butter in milk and cool to lukewarm. Place water in a warm large mixing bowl, sprinkle in yeast, and stir until dissolved; add milk mixture and sugar. By hand, beat 2 1/2 cups flour in until smooth; mix in eggs, salt, and spices. Mix in remaining flour, adding a little extra, if needed, to form a soft but manageable dough. Knead lightly 1 minute on a floured pastry cloth; shape into a ball, place in a greased large bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down, roll 1/2-inch thick on pastry cloth, using a floured, stockinette-covered rolling pin. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter and place 1 1/2-inches apart on un-greased baking sheets. Reroll and cut scraps. Cover with cloth and let double in bulk. [They should be very puffy and fragile to touch.]

Meanwhile, begin heating fat in a deep fat fryer. When doughnuts have risen and fat has reached 375 degrees F, ease 4 doughnuts into fat, 1 at a time. Fry about 2 minutes until golden brown all over, using tongs to turn. Drain on paper toweling.

Note: Never fry more than 4 doughnuts at a time and keep fat as near to 375 degrees F as possible; if too hot, doughnuts will brown before they cook inside.

While doughnuts are warm, roll in topping.

How to Make Homemade Glazed Doughnuts
from America’s Test Kitchen YouTube video

FMM: I typed this up while watching the video.

Doughnut Dough:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (22.5 oz.)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 cups milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp. table salt
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and slightly softened

Mix together the flour, sugar and yeast. Add the milkk and egg. Using dough hook, mix in stand mixer on medium low until it becomes a homogenous mass. About 2 minutes. Dough will gather on the dough hook. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit for about 20 minutes.

Add the salt and mix medium low for 5 - 7 minutes:

Add the butter, a few pieces at a time with the mixer running on medium low. Let the mixer run for another 7 - 13 minutes. Dough should be stretchy and elastic and clears the side of the bowl.

Shape into a ball in place in a greased bowl. No need to knead. Cover with plastic wrap. Place in the frig for at least overnight up to 48 hours.

Take dough out of frig. The dough will be very firm. Remove from bowl and place on floured clountered. Pat out the dough and mold it into an 8 inch square. Lightly flour the top. Roll with a rolling pin from the middle out until about 10 x 13 inch rectangle, 1/2 inch thick.

Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 12 donuts. Use a 1-inch biscuit cutter to cut the holes in the center of the donut. If filling the donut, do not cut the hole in the center.

Place donuts and donut holes on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and sprayed with vegetable oil. Place a loaf pan in the oven (which is turned off) and pour in 1 cup of boiling water. Place the donuts in the oven and let rise about 50%, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Gently press one of the donuts with your knuckle; it should slowly spring back.

As the donuts are rising, heat 2 quarts of vegetable oil to 360 degrees F. The temperature should remain between 350 and 365 degrees throughout the frying. Place 4 donuts in the oil. After about 1 minutes, use a skimmer or chop sticks and flip the donuts over. They should be a nice golden brown color. Cook the donuts for another minute on the second side.

Remove donuts from the oil and place on a triple layer of paper towels on the sheet tray. Let the oil come back up to temp and fry the remaining donuts and donut holes.

To make a classic glaze, put 3 1/4 cups confectioner sugar in a bowl and add 1/2 cup hot water and a pinch of salt. Whisk together. While still warm dip both sides of the donuts in the glaze and place on a wire rack set in a sheet pan lined with wax paper to catch any drippings.

Other glazes: chocolate and raspberry. Recipes are on their website. Dip just the top of the donut to the midriff in these glazes. Can add sprinkles on top. Let glazes dry for 15 to 30 minutes.

Variations:

Glazed Doughnut

Glazed Doughnts:

Warm 1/4 cup whole milk in a small saucepan set over low heat until the milk begins to steam. Remove it from heat and add the 2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, pinch of salt, and 1 teaspoon vanilla, and whisk until they are smooth. Keep warm over a pot of hot water.

Use your fingers to carefully submerge each of the cooled doughnuts in the glaze. Place the glazed doughnuts on a clean cooling rack to dry. The glaze will become more translucent as it dries. For best flavor, serve immediately.

Cinnamon Sugar Twists

Twists:

Prepare as directed, but instead of cutting into doughnuts, cut in strips 8-inches long and 1/2 to 3/4-inch wide; let rise, then twist strips several times and pinch ends together. Fry at once and roll in cinnamon sugar topping (1/2 cup superfine sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon) while still warm.

Round doughnuts and doughnut holes can also be covered with cinnamon sugar or cofectioners' sugar.

Boston Cream Doughnut

Boston Cream:

Prepare as directed, roll dough 1/2-inch thick. Cut in 2 1/2-inch rounds (no holes). Once the doughnuts have been fried and have completely cooled, use a knife or chopsticks to poke a hole in the center of the side of each doughnut. Fit a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch round tip and fill the bag with the Rich Custard Filling (Pastry Cream). Squirt about a few tablespoons of filling into each doughnut. Dip the top of the doughnut in Chocolate Glaze and return to your wired racks to let the glaze set for approximately 30 minutes before serving. Eat within a day.

Note: There are Crème-Filled Donuts which do not use custard, but instead a whipped sugary filling which is white in color. Custard is yellowish from the eggs. This cream is called Holland cream. I find these too sweet and prefer the custard filled ones.

Here is how to make the Holland Cream filling, if interested:

1⁄4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1⁄2 cup vegetable shortening
1⁄4 cup vegetable oil
1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract (clear is best for maintaining white color)
2 cups powdered sugar

In a small saucepan, heat water and sugar over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the solution boils. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool completely.

When the sugar syrup is cooled, transfer the syrup to a mixing bowl and beat together with vegetable shortening, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar a little at a time and beat until fluffy.

Jelly Doughnuts

Jelly Doughnuts:

Prepare as directed, roll dough 1/2-inch. Cut into 2 1/2-inch rounds, instead of doughnut shapes with holes. After frying, let cool slightly, and use chopsticks to poke a hole in the center of the side of each doughnut. Fill a pastry bag, fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip with jelly preserves. Insert the tip into the hole of each doughnut and pipe approximately 1 to 2 teaspoons preserves into them. Roll in confectioners' sugar while still warm.

A Rubarb-Strawberry jam would be good in the spring.

Bomboloni

Bomboloni:

Bomboloni are Italian filled yeast doughnuts primarily connected to the Tuscany region, but they may have origins in Austria. In some parts of Italy, they are called bomba or bombe meaning “bomb,” because they resemble a small grenade. What makes them different from American-style doughnuts is that the creamy filling is visible from the top rather than hidden inside.

Once it’s fried, the bombolone is then rolled in sugar and filled with either custard, mascarpone, Nutella, ricotta, hazelnut, pistachio cream, raspberry or other preserve, or a ricotta filling – the same filling used for Cannoli. When filling, allow a little bit of the filling to spill out and show through the hole.

Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

Top Dipped in Glaze or Melted Chocolate:

There are many glazes you can make to dip donuts in: chocolate, maple, strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, caramel, honey . . .

In the picture, the chef dipped the tops of the doughnuts in melted chocolate. The added decorations on the top donut looks like little chocolate balls. These are his instructions:

"For the chocolate glaze, simply melt cooking chocolate using a bain marie or the microwave. If you are using the microwave, go with 30 second burst stirring in between until almost melted. If you have a few clumps of chocolate left, stir until they have fully melted.

Add 1 tablespoon of Coconut oil or vegetable oil, this will make the chocolate thinner and will make a thin light crust. Coconut oil will also give the chocolate a nice velvet sheen.

Dunk the donuts and set them aside to dry, at this point you can also add sprinkles or other decoration if you want. You can also melt multiple types of chocolate and create beautiful designs."