Mmmmm doughnuts...

So, obviously I can't resist a bakey challenge, and am easy tempted by the delicious photos and stories of baking triumph shared by fellow bloggers...

A couple of months ago Elli of Elliphantom Knits posted the results of a weekend bakey experiment - oven-baked doughnuts.

I've been thinking about them ever since, and this weekend's chore of cleaning out the pantry seemed like the perfect excuse to spend some quality time with my kitchen and try these guys out. =)

The recipe is a standard bread dough type recipe - yeast, plain flour, milk (for a soft bun-like kinda crumb).

These took a little time - the usual bread rising time - but were really quite simple, although I did have one little problem - my fault not the recipe...
I made a half recipe, which meant I needed 2.5 cups of plain flour but I ran out at 1.5 so I substituted half a cup each of self-raising and wholemeal plain flours. I definitely think this changed the final texture of the doughnuts, although they still tasted delish.



Whilst the recipe was easy to follow, there were a couple of things I will do a bit differently next time (ooh, there will absolutely be a next time - hopefully with sufficient flour!!) - just based on my previous experience with bread.
Mostly these are to do with the treatment of the yeast.

The recipes has you start the yeast in 1/3 cup of warm milk in a mixing bowl. I prefer to do it in a cup to keep the liquid deeper and warmer, and would add a teaspoon of sugar at this point too.

The other main change I would make is in shaping the doughnuts - the recipe cuts them out kind of like scones - rolling out the dough (which was really hard work - it was so elastic it just kept springing back!) with a 2"-3" round cutter then a smaller one to remove the middle.
I did some like this and some by rolling portions of dough into 'snakes' and joining them to make a doughnut shape - I preferred this both because it meant I didn't have to wrestle to get the dough rolled out and I just liked the look of them better. I think this might also be better for the dough since you're not always re-rolling so you're less likely to over-handle it.

I also had a little bit of trouble getting a good cinnamon/sugar dusting - this might be because using different flours changed the texture a bit, so it didn't stick as well.
I think these would work pretty well with icing and sprinkles too =)

The Boy has been eating them warmed for a minute or so in the microwave today, and tells me they are just as good as yesterday =)

Mmmm doughnuts.... tempted???

xo

Comments

  1. You bet I'm tempted! Thanks for writing them up. I will be sure to give them a go. And I reckon your rolling method, making snakes, sounds so much easier. Best not to overhandle the dough, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, yum scrum! I dont do deep frying, so oven-baked doughnuts push all my buttons. I wonder if the sugar and cinnamon doestn stick so well because there's no oily coating?

    Who cares - they look delish!

    ReplyDelete
  3. bells - yeah, over-handling was my main worry with the dough

    George - you better believe there's an oily coating - you dip them in melted butter then in to the sugar mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm =)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh yummm! I love doughnuts (can you fill them with jam?) Perhaps it would be better to make them the way you make bagels - with a disc you put your thumb through and then roll!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! Have a nice day =)