After years of looking at Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, Yum Yum, Spudnuts, WHATEVER sprout up all around me, I really miss good old mom-and-pop donut shops.
Had one from Dunkin’ the other day. Can I say GROSS?
Don’t get me wrong, a melt-in-your-mouth hot donut from Krispy Kreme still hits the spot… for about three seconds. And I’m always left wanting more.
More donut.
Something fluffy.
Very soft.
Still a bit of a chew though, I don’t want it to just melt away in my mouth too quickly.
With a glaze that’s not too sugary sweet that I feel like I’m going to have a diabetic attack from eating it.
I was whining to my mom that I wanted some good old-fashioned donuts, and she looked at me like the answer was obvious.
“Why don’t we make some then?”
OF COURSE.
cutting out donuts.
“But I’ve never made a donut before!”
twist!
“So?”
voila!
That is true. Good point, Mom.
the next morning
And these donuts were perfect.
fry me!
I love the little donut holes!
careful! the oil is hot.
If you have time to make your own, I would suggest you do so! No grease, no extra lard butter whatever nastys are in franchise donuts, and they taste so much better! Love it. It’s really not all that difficult if you make the dough the night before and let them rise for an hour before frying in the morning.
glazed & unglazed
And who doesn’t love donuts? Fried dough? C’mon. Whoever thought of that was GENIUS.
fry faster! mmmmm
People will be amazed at these.
Trust me.
You will be revered.
Honored.
sugar? glaze? cinnamon sugar? powdered sugar?
Statues will be erected in your name.
Poems written for you.
Legends about your good deeds will live on in progeny.
donut heaven <3
And how can they not? LOOK AT THESE DONUTS.
perfect glazed twist donuts.
I love it when my mom has great ideas.
Glazed Old-fashioned Donuts
Yield: 8 ring donuts & 4 twist donuts (you can do any variation you like)
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup warm milk
1/3 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups + all purpose flour
Whisk together the water, yeast, milk, sugar, butter, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour until combined. Then, add the eggs and beat until incorporated into the dough.
Add the rest of the flour, and using the dough hook, beat for about eight minutes until the sides completely pull away from the insides of the bowl. The dough should be smooth and soft. If the dough looks too sticky, add more flour one tablespoon at a time until the dough is the right consistency.
When finished, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour.
After the dough has risen, roll it out onto a floured surface at a thickness about 1/2 inch thick and cut out into desired shapes. Feel free to make rings, only donut holes, or twist them into whatever shape you desire. (Personally, I like twist donuts best)
After cutting out the shapes, place them on a greased pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for one more hour.
If you are making them in advance, say the night before, you can wrap them (but make sure the covering is airtight) the same way and put them in the fridge overnight. Then, one hour before you want to fry them, leave them out with the wrap still on and let rise for one hour.
After they’ve risen to about double their size, heat up oil in a frying pan on simmer to medium heat. Be careful not to be impatient and heat the oil on too high a heat! You want your oil to be about 180 – 190 degrees F. If it’s too high, they’ll burn! (We burned a few so I know… Trust me. Haha)
When your oil is the right temperature, place the dough in the oil and fry for about 60-90 seconds on each side. You only want to flip the donut once! So, check the bottom and see if its a nice golden color before flipping it.
Remove them from the oil and place them on a pan lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil.
Then, you can glaze them while they’re hot, roll them in powdered sugar, granulated sugar, whatever you like!
And EAT EAT EAT!
10 donuts disappeared between the four of us like it was nothing. :)
Vanilla Glaze Recipe
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Whisk all the ingredients together very quickly until smooth and combined. Brush over donuts while still hot!
I really never thought about making my own doughnuts until now. Hmm…
justalittlepiece.wordpress.com
Your donuts look great. It’s been awhile since I’ve made them. But what I really want to make are double chocolate donuts but can’t find a good recipe.
justalittlepiece – they’re easier to make than i expected! and yummy :)
tortatebukura – double chocolate…. that sounds so good. if you do find a good recipe, let me know.
The idea of using yeast in anything is a bit scary. I just picture my kitchen overflowing with dough. Althought that isn’t such a BAD thing…
whouaaaaaaaaa! i love it ! wonderfull ! I keep the recipe thank you! bye…from France!
overflowing with dough? sounds WONDERFUL haha
yes but i don’t think you need to worry, these really don’t rise too much
thank you angy! france! wow :)
make me some.
please.
ship them to me.
i don’t care if they rot.
hey i was just wondering if this was fresh yeast you were using or instant dry yeast?
it was instant dry!
I’ve tried this recipe twice and each time the dough has come out elastic-ey, it doesn’t rise or roll out well or rise again well. Am I doing something wrong?
Also how do you get that nice white ring around them is the oil fairly shallow?
Elastic-ey? That’s strange… I don’t really know what goes into the science of it all, but are you sure you’re using the right kind of yeast and letting it rise for the right amount of time? Also, make sure you beat it for the full 8 minutes or longer if that’s what it takes.
As for the white ring, most of them had the white ring, some of them didn’t. The oil is pretty shallow, but the donuts should float on their own as well.
Hope this was somewhat helpful!
Well, it seemed like there was too much dry ingredients to incorporate into the wet. I noticed it was harder when I was kneading it. I don’t have a mixer. I let it rise, which it didn’t do very well. And when I went to roll it out, it sprung back to it’s original size mostly.
I think this is generally difficult to make by hand. The mixer does a lot more at a higher efficiency than you can do by hand, so that may be where you’re finding difficulty.
Guess you can try experimenting with using less dry ingredients if it seems like the dough is too stiff?
I’m not having a problem with other doughs. I’ll try less flour. I’ll also try more shallow oil.
I noticed on your ingredients list you mentioned nutmeg, but on the procedures you didn’t include it. Is nutmeg necessary or optional.
sorry about the confusion! its optional
These are the best doughnuts I have EVER made or had! Thank you!
Yay! no problemo
These look great but they are not “old fashioned” doughnuts. They are just homemade glazed doughnuts. I am looking for a real “old fashioned” sour cream batter dropped craggy topped doughnut recipe. Though your doughnuts look great, calling them old fashioned is why I’m having a hard time finding a genuine “old fashioned” batter dropped–not cut–doughnut recipe. If you have one of these please post it or tell me where to find it. Keep up the good work. I will try your glazed recipe soon.
TWK Try googling “the best cake donut recipe” because that’s what old fashioned donuts really are. You will get a recipe that looks great and is exactly what you are looking for. Good luck!
my donut dough is rising right now and i came online to figure out how people make the twisty things. Lo and behold i found your blog! Thanks for the clear pictures — they look oh so yummy!!! i hope mine come out that good :) :)
Thanks for the tutorial !
No problem!! Hope your donuts came out awesome!
well, my donuts were interesting. I think next time im gonna use YOUR recipe :)
They were kind of thin and long . (similar to your first “twist” picture — long and skinny) … but i was hoping they were going to look like the ones in your pictures. i either made them too long and thin, or possibly they didnt rise long enough.
either way, people enjoyed them and and i got compliments – but id like to try a new recipe next time!!
Luckily – i found yours !!!! :) :)
heres to more donut making in the future!
Hmmmmmm let me know how it turns out! I’ve had a mixed bag of reviews but it worked great for me after letting them rise overnight :)
My husband and I are making these today. Yummy! They smell so good while rising right now! Next we’ll be cooking them and glazing them and probably eating them with the kids! Or maybe not share with the kids. ;) Just kidding! Anyway, they look delicious and I started following your blog today! Your food looks delicious!
I hope they came out well! :)
Trust me… I have trouble sharing when it comes to fried dough as well. Like HOLD UP EVERYONE STEP AWAY.
Ours turned out very good! Thank you!
Hi, soooo happy i came across your blog here. I tried making the twist donuts, but notice that it doesn’t stay twisted when i fry them. They want to “untwist” .
What am I doing wrong? Tried pinching at the end to help it hold better together, but still no luck. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Kristen,
Did you twist each end in the opposite direction and then pinch the ends together? This generally works for me and I had no problems with the twist coming undone!
So you wouldn’t fold a long piece of dough in half and then twist – you should twist FIRST, and then fold the dough in half and it should just twist up on its own.
Let me know if that doesn’t make sense or doesn’t work!
I made these today…they came out fantastic…. to the person who said the dough didnt rise…..maybe your yeast was dead…. I proofed mine in the warm water, before adding to the mix, and i didnt use the bread machine or the dough hook…pure muscle baby!!
and p.s……it says “OLD SCHOOL” style donuts….not old fashioned, to the person who made the comment that these shouldnt be called old fashioned donuts
@Alice – Wow no bread hook! That’s really impressive. You must be an awesome baker. I’m at the mercy of the conveniences of modern technology. I think I need to revisit this recipe again sometime soon. Haven’t made donuts in forever.