Doughnuts: Perhaps The Most Delicious Food On Earth. Perhaps.

There is something uniquely magical about doughnuts. I don't get doughnuts often, since they're not exactly the healthiest thing for you, but any time I wander my way into a Dunkin' Donuts, I am drawn to Boston Creme.

I've long wanted to make my own, for many reasons, but mainly because doughnuts are absolutely friggin' delicious. Also, I think doughnuts runs in every New Englanders veins, much like that of maple syrup in that of those in Vermont. No wonder Bernie Sanders is so awesome.

For Christmas, I received Flour, which is the eponymous cookbook put out by the restaurant (Flour, obviously).




In the cookbook was a recipe for doughnuts. Aside from eclairs, this is the recipe I felt I needed to make as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I lacked a few important items. First, I had no round cutters, which is kind of important when you're making doughnuts which are, you know, round. And as for eclairs, I also did not have any kind of piping tools. Now, I have both, so I am certainly looking forward to making some eclairs, like, now.



Making doughnuts is surprisingly easy, though it does require a few things.

First, you are going to need ingredients, obviously. These are all standard baking stuffs, so I wouldn't worry too much. Flour, butter, milk, eggs, and the like. If you bake, you most certainly have what you need.

As far as tools, you'll need a way to roll out dough. Either a French rolling pin or a standard. I like the aesthetics of a french pin, but I make do with a regular old rolling pin.

You'll also be needing a way to cut the doughnuts. You can either use round cookie cutters, or a special doughnut cutter. Personally, I'm happy with my round cookie cutters. They come in various sizes from about 3/4 of an inch to three-and-a-half inches. I like that they are multipurpose, whereas doughnut cutters really only serve to, well, cut out doughnuts. The choice is yours.

Since doughnuts are fried (yes, there are also baked cake doughnuts, but those are different), you're going to need a way to fry them. You can either use a deep fryer, if you have one, or a heavy pot.

The benefits to a fryer, is temperature control. Since they have a temperature dial on them, you can maintain a regular temperature. But, the downside is that you may not be able to fit as many doughnuts in. I could fit only two at best in mine.

Heavy stock pots, like Le Creuset, Staub, or Lodge will also work fabulously. Obviously these are expensive, but they can be used for so many different things. Besides, they look good. Fryers aren't exact;y the most beautiful kitchen artifacts. This method, is a bit trickier, though since you have no temperature dials. You can use an oil/candy thermometer, or throw in a dash of flour into the oil. When it sizzles, your oil is ready.



The nice thing about making your own goodies is that you know what goes into them, and that you don't have to waste anything. The "holes" can become little munchkins or donettes. Even the scraps can be recycled into new dough for new doughnuts. There wasn't a single scrap of dough that went to waste. which was nice. I ended up with nine doughnuts, and countless doughnut holes, which are a good snack. The nice thing about the doughnut holes is that they tend to turn themselves over when the other half needs to be fried. Not many foods cook themselves. How awesome are doughnuts?



We made some doughnuts plain, some were coated with sugar, and some were coated with cinnamon sugar-- probably one of the tastiest combinations you can imagine.



The recipe takes about two days. The first day is just making the dough. This takes maybe ten to fifteen minutes. Wrapping up the dough to let it rest and retard overnight is all you have to do afterwards. The next day, you just take the dough out, cut out the doughnuts, and let it rest for a couple hours in a warm spot. Next, you get to frying, doing each side for two to three minutes. Doughnut holes may take a bit less time.



Recipe for Doughnuts, from Flour, very ever-so-slightly altered. (By the way, this cookbook is awesome, I can't recommend it enough)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 package)
2/3 cup milk, at room temperature. I used skim since it's all we had.
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour. I like King Arthur Flour
1 1/3 cup sugar (1/3 for the recipe, 1 cup for the coating)
2 tsp kosher salt (If using table salt, use half this amount since it is finer.)
3 eggs (large)
7 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature, cut into eight or so pieces.
Canola Oil (for frying, you'll need enough to fill your pot/fryer with 3 inches of oil. Think half-gallon)

Directions:

- In a stand mixer (or a hand mixer), combine the milk and yeast, stirring briefly, letting it stand for a minute to dissolve.

- Add the flour, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, and eggs and mix on low speed for about a minute (or until the dough comes together).

- Continue mixing on low speed for another two to three minutes to develop the dough further, and begin adding the hunks of butter one or two at a time until the butter is fully incorporated, and the dough is soft and cohesive. This should take about five minutes or so.

- Remove the dough from the bowl (a spatula or dough scraper works well) and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least six hours, though overnight works well if you are doing this at night.

Day 2

- Lightly flour a baking sheet or two, and flour your work surface well. You don't want the dough sticking to your counter, right?

- Roll the dough out until it is 1/2 inch thick. This will be about a square foot, but if yours is more rectangular shaped than square, don't feel so bad.

- Using your doughnut cutters, cut out the doughnuts and place them on the baking sheet. Make sure the holes are close to the center. I don't think asymmetrical doughnuts qualify as modern art. Also, feel free to experiment with different sized cutters for smaller or larger doughnuts. When you run out of space to cut doughnuts, roll it back into a somewhat singular form and recut. You'll probably be able to get another doughnut or so out of the scraps. Or you could throw those scraps away, but think of the starving children when you do it, you bastard.

- Cover your doughnuts with plastic wrap (loosely, but so no air gets in) and place them in a warm area to rise for two to three hours. They should double in size and be slightly springy to the touch. Think poufy.

- After this agonizing wait, line a tray, baking sheet, or in my case a pizza pan with paper towels. Unless you like oily doughnuts, then by all means...

- Fill your fryer according to its directions, or a heavy saucepan to a depth of three inches and heat on medium-high heat. You want the oil at 350 degrees, so if you have a candy thermometer now is a good time to use it, just be careful. If you do not have a thermometer, toss a few flecks of flour into the oil. If it sizzles like a little boy doing a jig at a wedding, your oil is ready.

- Slowly place the doughnuts into the oil, one or two at a time. Fry each side for two to three minutes until brown (flipping carefully after the first side finishes).

- Don't dump anything into hot oil. You really don't want to burn yourself. You want to enjoy the doughnuts, right? Also, don't crowd the doughnuts, they won't fry as well, and we want these suckers perfect, don't we?

- Using a slotted spoon, or a wire mesh-like spoon thing, slowly extract the doughnuts from the oil and place them on the paper towels. I'd avoid using plastic utensils, since they could very possibly melt, and plastic doughnuts, while tantalizing, do not say "yummy" to me. I used metal tongs, since we don't have a slotted spoon or anything.

- While you wait for this magic to happen, fill a bowl with the one cup of sugar, or cinnamon sugar, or anything else you want to coat them with.

- Once cool enough to handle, toss the doughnuts in the sugar, cinnamon sugar, etc until coated to your liking. Some may like the completely embedded in sugar look, while other may prefer a light dusting, so coat to taste. I find that the munchkin doughnut holes are a good test for this.

- Set the coated doughnuts to cool on the paper towels for half an hour or so. You don't want to eat them when they are overly hot or when they are slightly doughy, so just be patient. Don't worry, it's worth it.

- If you are impatient, feel free to snack on some munchkins while you fry up the rest of the doughnuts. These seem to take less time to cool.

- Enjoy!


For the record, you want the oil at 350 Degrees Fahrenheit