Our latest Baking Day featured an all time favourite. Doughnuts. Really, who doesn’t love a warm and fresh doughnut? Liberally dusted with cinnamon sugar. Crunchy on the outside. Fluffy and light on the inside. Heaven in a bite. Doughnuts take me right back to my childhood, where I would spend all of the money my mom gave me on Fridays for the tuckshop, and just buy doughnuts. Five or six doughnuts. Glazed with icing. Slathered in chocolate. So sweet that I would feel sickly by the end of recess, but I would savour every last sweet morsel, until I couldn’t think of eating another doughnut ever again. Or, at least until next Friday… I feel no shame. Sugar and dough is what makes the world go round, people!
Our little baking group has expanded some more, and we are now 5 girls doing our baking thing! It’s really so much fun, and we all get along great. This time, the hostess was my beau’s sister. We were joined by my sister, and my two future sister-in-laws too! And all the boys came too, watching rugby, and being generally noisy. This recipe was our hostess’ choice, by request of her man. It seems that he too, is in fact, a sucker for a doughnut. That posed a problem in itself, because suddenly we were constantly being watched by one of the boys…Judging us. Questioning every dusting of flour, every proofing of the dough. But no matter, we were undeterred.
This recipe is quite labour-intensive, and takes time. Be prepared for that. Also, get some friends to help. It really saves some time when everyone is pitching in a bit. We used the recipe found here. The dough of the recipe is not a runny one, but rather quite like a bread dough. We used a wide-mouthed mug to cut the doughnuts, and a shotglass to cut out the holes in the middle. We saved the little rounds, and fried them too, to make tiny balls of delight! Here we go then.
Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
Makes about 36-40
Ingredients:
- 6 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 6 teaspoons dried yeast
- Pinch of salt
- 500ml (2 cups) milk, warmed
- 200g butter, melted
- 6 egg yolks
- Canola oil (or any other flavourless oil, like sunflower), to deep-fry
- 2 cups caster sugar, extra
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon (We used more, but we’re all cinnamon junkies. Start with 4, then taste. Adjust accordingly)
Method:
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Combine flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a bowl. Make a well. Mix in milk, butter and egg until dough starts to come together – it may be sticky.
- Knead on a well-floured surface until smooth. Place in a greased bowl. Cover. Prove for 1 1/2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.
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Punch down the dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 2 minutes or until smooth. Roll out dough until 1cm thick. Rest dough for 2 minutes.
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Use an 8cm round cutter to cut out discs. Use a 3.5cm round cutter to cut out centres. Place on a lined tray. Set aside for 15 minutes to rise slightly.
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Combine extra sugar and cinnamon on a tray. Heat oil to 180°C. Deep-fry 4-5 doughnuts for 1 minute each side or until puffed and golden. (It’s a good idea to test one of them to make sure they’re done, before frying everything. The dough should be puffy and light on the inside.)
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Transfer the doughnuts to the sugar mixture and turn to coat. Repeat, in batches, with remaining doughnuts.
If you’re doing the little balls too, you should be able to eyeball when they’re ready, but we fried them for about 90 seconds. That’s it! It’s pretty easy to make, and the only thing is to have your oil at exactly 180°C. Don’t be fooled though, just because they’re easy, doesn’t mean they aren’t delectable. They are. And you won’t be able to stop until you have a food-baby. The little balls were done by the time we started frying the doughnuts. Totally addictive. I’ll definitely make this again. I might serve it with some dipping chocolate and crushed nuts on the side as well.
Until our next baking adventure!
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