Cinnimon & Sugar Doughnuts

How have I never ever, not even once, made a doughnut or piece of fried dough?  How can I be living having not made these for my family!  So good, relatively simple and the process was good for my soul.  This is the kind of recipe you try when you need a therapy day.  I used a recipe from Epicurious and was pleased but I saw a few steps I could combine right away.  

Actuve time 45 min

Inactive  about 3 hours total  

Cooking time 20-30 min

Yeilds a bakers dozen doughnuts & holes.   

Adapted from Epicurious  

You will need  

a stand mixer, a cast iron skillet, 2 mixing bowls and 2 cookie sheets one lined with a floured tea towel that’s not terry cloth.   

Recipe  

2 3/4 cup flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp yeast

1 cup scalded milk cooled to 110

3 large egg yolks  

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla  

1/2 cup soft butter  

Oil for frying, I used a tempered light olive oil for frying.   

Method

In a bowl dissolve 1 Tbsp. Yeast into the milk, fold in one cup of flour, cover and set aside for 30 minutes in a warm place.  Put the mixture that have tripled in volume into your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla.  Add another 1/4 cup flour along with the sugar, mix. At this point switch to your dough hook and add the butter and 1/4 cup of flour and baking powder.  Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time (mixing well after each addition) until your dough begins to pull away and is moist but not overly sticky.  Cover and set aside to proof 30 minutes, punch down then chill for an hour or up to overnight.  When it’s time to fry them roll them out 1/2 inch thick on a floured surface and use a biscuit cutter to cut your doughnuts.  I used a baby bottle cap to cut the center holes 😂 Set them on a floured tea towel on a cookie sheet to puff up slightly!  (About 15-20 minutes) Next in your cast iron skillet, add about 3 cups of oil.  You need at least 1 1/2 inches to shallow fry them.  

(My skillet is a 10 inch)   Heat the oil to shimmering hot, about 300 degrees and don’t be afraid to fry them until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.  

The sky is the limit for toppings, we chose to place 2 cups of sugar and 2 tbsp. Cinnimon into a paper grocery bag and upon removing the cooked doughnuts from the hot oil I set them in the bag and shook them liberally and laid them on another cookie sheet!