Doughnuts

There are 2 things that my oldest daughter Rania, is crazy about; cats and doughnuts. I won’t let her have either. Cats because, well, they’re alive and have hair that gets everywhere, and doughnuts, because, commercial doughnuts are filled with hydrogenated fats, artificial colours and preservatives…eeew…nasty. So, I decided that I would be a nice mommy this weekend and treat everyone to homemade doughnuts. I made the dough on Saturday night and on Sunday morning, took the dough out, shaped them into doughnut rings and let them rise a bit and fried them off. After a dunking in a brown bag filled with some cinnamon sugar, they were ready to be devoured… and they were…very quickly. The only tedious part to these is the frying part, but some people don’t mind frying. I personally loathe frying, however, it was Super Bowl Sunday, I had a beautiful winter wonderland outside, my hubby was off, kids were behaving…so why not?

Doughnuts

3 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour

11/4 teaspoon active dry yeast *

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup warm milk, preferably organic

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 large organic or free range egg, beaten

Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar together in a bowl and put aside.
Mix the milk, butter and egg together.
Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and with a mixer attached with a dough hook, mix the dough and knead, It will take about 3 or 4 minutes for the dough to come together.
Knead for about 4-5 minutes till the dough is a smooth, soft ball.
If your dough is too sticky, add a flour by tablespoons till its is smooth and soft, if it is too dry, add teaspoons of milk till it is nice and soft and smooth. Sometimes, the weather dictates how dry or moist your flour is, so you will have to judge your dough.
Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size ( this is the point where you stick it in the fridge if you want to get a head start)
After it has risen, divide the dough into 16 pieces. Roll each into a ball and make a hole in the centre and stretch out to make a doughnut shape. ( If you refrigerated the dough, let it warm up a bit before making the balls)
Put the rings on a greased baking sheet/pan and let rise again for about 20 minutes.
Fill a deep fryer or deep pan with a good 3 inches or so of oil and bring up to 350 deg F.
Once the oil has reached 350 deg, fry the doughnuts carefully, don’t overcrowd the pan, till nice and evenly golden brown. About 2 minutes each side.
Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a rack or paper towels.
Fill a brown bag with some sugar and cinnamon and shake the doughnuts in the bag, couple at a time.

Enjoy while they are warm.

* make sure your yeast is not old.

If you are concerned, then add your yeast to the warm milk with the sugar and set it aside to get frothy. Once it gets frothy, add to the flour along with the egg and butter.