Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Donuts!

 

Dear Daring Bakers’,

  Sorry I’m late.  Life got in the way.  Again.  When I say life, what I really mean is a 42″ tall dictator that been home from school for 38 days so far got in the way.  So finding time to pick a challenge this month was, in itself, challenging.  It had to be not too complicated or require peace and concentration.  Because that went out the window 38 days ago, as well.

  But one blurry-eyed night when I should have been sleeping, but was surfing the web instead because I just needed some part of my day to not be about being a mom/maid/cook/tush wiper/all around servant to the aforementioned dictator, I found the donuts.  Donuts sound so good when you’re in a mood like that.  Well, they always sound good.  But that night, in the dark of my living room, bathed in the glow of my Mac, they sounded like salvation.

  And definitely challenging.  The one time I tried to make donuts before, they were horrible.  They were so bad I threw them away.  Dessert has to be really bad for me to throw it away.  So the idea of making donuts again made me nervous.  I like that.  If I’m not nervous about it, it’s not really a challenge, right?  (Or maybe I’m  just weird.)

ingredients for donuts:

adapted from Alton Brown via Lori at Butter Me Up

• 1 & 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1/3 c. vegetable shortening
• 4 & 1/2 tsp. (2 packages) active dry yeast
• 1/3 c. warm water (95° to 105° F.)
• 2 eggs, at room temperature and beaten
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 & 1/3 c. all purpose flour
• 1 & 1/3 c. bread flour
• canola oil, enough to fill pot to 3″ deep
• spray oil

Heat milk in a saucepan to warm, but do not boil.  Put shortening into a bowl and pour war milk on top. Stir until shortening is melted.  Set aside (I put mine in the fridge to cool to room temperature).  Whisk 2 flours together in a bowl and set aside. (I used half bread flour because I didn’t have enough regular flour and my donuts turned out great!  But the original recipe calls for just regular flour).

Place warm water in a bowl and sprinkle yeast on top.  Add 2 tsp. of your sugar on top to feed your yeast and stir to combine.  Let sit for 5 minutes until it foams up and doubles in size.  My kitchen was very warm this day so it really worked well!

Pour yeast mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer.  Add milk and vegetable shortening mixture.  Stir on low with the paddle attachment to combine.  Add eggs, remaining sugar, salt, extract and half the flour.  Mix on low to combine, then increase speed to medium and beat until well combined.

Add remaining flour, stir on low, then increase speed to medium to thoroughly combine.  Change to the dough hook and beat on medium speed for about 3-5 minutes, until dough starts to pull away from the bowl and become smooth.

Spray the inside of a glass bowl lightly with your oil.  Transfer dough to bowl.  Spray a piece of plastic wrap lightly with oil and cover surface of your dough.  Allow to rest for an hour or so until it doubles in size.  Remember how I said it was warm in my kitchen?  I walked away from my dough, and when I came back in an hour, this had happened!  Oops.  Don’t be me.  Watch your dough.

Sprinkle your counter top heavily with flour and transfer your dough to the counter.  Coat your rolling pin with flour, and roll out dough until it is about 3/8″ thick.  Cut out donuts using a glass or circular cookie cutter.  Cut out the middle using a small cookie cutter, shot glass or medicine cup from children’s Tylenol (That’s what I used).  Re-roll out remaining scarps and cut out more donuts.  Place donuts and holes on a well floured baking sheet, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise for a 1/2 hour.

Pour oil into a dutch oven or heavy bottomed large pot until it is 3″ deep.  Heat to 365°.  Gently add donuts, 3 at a time to oil.  Let cook until light golden brown.  This took mine 20 seconds.  Flip over and cook on the other side.  Remove from oil with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a rack to cool.  Repeat until you have cooked all the donuts and holes.  Allow to cool before glazing.

To make the chocolate glaze:

ingredients:

recipe from Alton Brown

• 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. whole milk
• 1 tbl. light corn syrup(for shine)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 c. confectioner’s sugar, sifted

Combine butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted.  Turn heat down to low, add chocolate, and whisk until melted.  Remove pan from heat, add sugar and whisk until smooth.

  Dip donuts in chocolate and place on a wire rack to set.  If using sprinkles, sprinkle them after dipping every few donuts before chocolate has time to set.  If chocolate in the bowl starts to thicken, microwave on low for 10 seconds then whisk.

The dictator demands sprinkles.