Yeast Breads: Basic Yeast Doughnuts

These fluffy doughnuts are sweet and delicious. They're so good you can eat them plain, but you can also glaze them or add any type of frosting, if you so desire. I usually don't have time to glaze them. My kids are eating them almost the second they come out of the oil


Doughnuts are often thought difficult to make, but you can make them easily enough at home with a little patience and a deep fryer. While you can use a pot on the stove, a deep fryer is safer. If you do use a pot on the stove, you'll also need a frying thermometer. It's critical that you keep track of how hot the oil is.


For these delicious doughnuts, you'll need plenty of oil for frying. A minimum of 4 cups is needed, but you'll want at least 6 cups on hand, just in case.


Ingredients


For the Doughnuts
1¼ tsp quick rise or bread machine yeast
¾ cup warm water
½ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour


For the Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preparation


Making these doughnuts isn't much different than making most other yeast breads. Because we're using quick rise yeast, you don't even have to dissolve it. Place all doughnut ingredients into a large bowl and mix until a loose dough forms. Turn the loose dough out onto a floured surface and knead until dough is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes.


Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rise in a warm location until dough has doubled in size. This will take about 60 minutes, but may take a little longer. When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to remove all the air bubbles. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes. This helps the dough relax.


Roll the dough out to ½-inch thickness. Let the dough sit again for 10 minutes. When the dough has relaxed, take a doughnut cutter and cut out your doughnuts. How many doughnuts you get depends on the size of your doughnut cutter. You'll get about 2 dozen smaller doughnuts if you use a 2½-inch cutter.


Reroll leftover dough, let it relax, and keep cutting doughnuts until you run out of dough. You can reroll the doughnut holes you have from cutting the doughnuts, if you wish, or you can fry them up too. I like to fry them and have them as bite-sized doughnut holes, but you can do as you wish.


Once all your doughnuts are cut, cover and let rise for about 30 minutes. Heat the oil to 370°F, either in the deep fryer or in a pot on the stove. You don't want the oil any hotter than this or the doughnuts will burn before they're cooked. That's why the temperature control is so important. If you're not using a deep fryer with temperature control, you'll need a deep fry thermometer.


Fry doughnuts until they are golden brown, about 90 seconds per side. Flip them as needed, and don't be afraid to leave them in the oil for an extra minute if you want them a little darker. Carefully remove the doughnuts from the oil and place on a wire rack to cool. This will keep them from getting soggy. Remember to fry in small batches. You don't want to crowd the doughnuts.


Allow doughnuts to cool completely, then whisk together the glaze ingredients in a shallow bowl. Take a single doughnut and place it in the glaze, flipping to coat, then return it to the cooling rack. Continue until all doughnuts are coated. Allow glaze to set for at least 20 minutes before serving.


These doughnuts will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container.