Homemade donuts are the best alternative to the purchased ones, for they do not contain as many calories nor unhealthy substances. There are many different recipes, and with imagination, we will get marvelous results.
In this article, we will learn how to make traditional glazed donuts.
Quick and easy homemade donut recipe
Donuts are one of the best delicacies for sweet lovers. A good way to consume them from time to time in a healthy and less expensive way than purchasing them is to prepare them ourselves.
Below is the original recipe for glazed donuts that can be found in any grocery store.
1. Ingredients
For the dough:
- 500 g wheat flour (300 g strong and 200 g regular)
- 100 g white sugar
- 5 g salt
- 230 ml warm milk
- 40 g fresh yeast
- 1 egg
- 40 g butter or margarine
- vanilla essence
- sunflower or corn oil
For the glazing:
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 40 g butter or margarine
- two tablespoons of water
These ingredients are guidelines for making about 25 or 30 donuts, depending on the recipe, if we want we can add more elements depending on the type of homemade donut we want to make.
2. Mix them
The first step is to add the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to a large bowl to make the dough. The fresh yeast must be shredded with your hands before adding it.
To make the dough, we have to mix all the ingredients with the proper utensil or even with our hands. After mixing for a minute or more add the milk, egg and two tablespoons of vanilla essence.
3. Shake
The next step in making our homemade glazed donuts is to mix it all over again with a whisk or with a kitchen robot that shakes it for us. We will have to beat the content for about 7 minutes so that the dough finally acquires the desired texture.
The texture has to be a homogeneous, malleable and lumpy mixture that will fall off if we hold it with some utensil. It is also important that the dough sticks to the kitchen utensils we are using but not to our fingers.
4. Knead the dough
Once the dough is ready, carefully remove it from the bowl and place it on a flat, firm surface where a little flour has been spread before. This surface can be a wooden plank or kitchen marble, which is where we will continue kneading it.
The dough we have at the moment is still a little sticky, so we will use the help of a spatula to knead as long as necessary. In this way, our glazed donuts will have a similar taste to those that can be purchased but will be healthier.
To knead it, we will remove the dough from the surface where we are working and fold it over itself giving it a rounded shape at the same time. Once the dough is not so sticky we will add butter all over the surface, we will continue folding it on itself and hitting it on the table.
5. Let it stand
While we are kneading, we will add a little flour if necessary to knead better, but not too much. Once the dough has absorbed the butter and has become more homogeneous and less sticky, stop kneading and put the dough back into the bowl that we used before.
Before doing so, first we have to add a little flour and once we have it inside, cover it with a little sunflower oil and cover the bowl with plastic film.
The dough will ferment and increase its volume, this is the classic way to prepare any type of dough and, in our case, traditional donuts.
6. Knead again
About an hour later, when the dough has fermented, its size will have been multiplied by three, so make sure that the bowl is big enough. Then put the dough back on a flat surface with flour and knead again.
This time we will do the same process of kneading but also squeezing the dough so that it loses the air. With the help of a roller pin, we will stretch the dough all over the surface. After that, the dough has to be one centimeter thick.
The next step, once the dough is extended, will be to make dough circles with a suitable mold, and at the same time to make the central circles of the donut.
7. Fry them
Next, we will place the donuts that we have made with the mold on parchment paper with a little flour on top. Paint the donuts with a little sunflower oil to give them shine and moisture. While we wait for their volume to increase (they will double the volume they have initially) we will heat sunflower oil in a frying pan.
The process of making homemade donuts will consist of frying each one for one minute on each side. It is important not to fry the donuts too much, they have to be golden on both sides.
8. Add the glazing
The last step is to put the cooked donuts on napkins to absorb the excess oil. To make the donut glazing we will need to put the powdered sugar and the melted butter in the microwave in a bowl. With a kitchen mixer, beat the mixture and add warm water little by little.
We will continue beating and adding water intermittently until the glaze acquires a liquid texture but also slightly dense as if it were condensed milk. The last step is to spread the donuts with the glaze and let them dry. The result will be exquisite and healthier than purchased donuts.
References
Krondl, M. (2014). The Donut: history, recipes, and lore from Boston to Berlin. Chicago Review Press. p. 30.
Terry, J. S. (2005) A Rich, Deliciously Satisfying Collection of Breakfast Recipes, Just My Best Publishing Company.