My Baking Diary: Yummylicious Donuts Made Easy!

Yummylicious Donuts~

Having a party or gathering and would like to prepare some nice snacks for your guest, here's something easy to make, taste yummy (just like those sold at the bakery), and looks really pretty! (you can customize to your own liking!) =)

Ingredients

(Serves about 12 Standard Size Donuts)

350g Plain / Multipurpose Flour

A pinch of salt

30g caster sugar

50g margarine

7g fast-action dried yeast

65ml warm milk

65ml warm water

1 large egg (beat lightly)

Vegetable oil, to deep fry

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

3 tablespoons caster sugar

½ tablespoon ground cinnamon

 - mix them up in a shallow dish or simply put them in a ziplock bag

Chocolate Coating

5 (or more depending on your preference) table spoons of chocolate chips (melted in the microwave for 40seconds)

You might also want to sprinkle on some chocolate / rainbow sprinkles to make it look really awesome! =)

Time Spent

Preparation of Ingredient : 10 mins

Waiting time for dough to raise : 1 hour

Cooking time : 10 mins

Decorating time : 10mins

Instructions

1) Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar. Add the margarine and rub into the flour. Mix in the dried yeast.

2) Place the saucepan with the milk and water on a low heat to warm (it needs to be just warm enough so that it is still comfortable to carefully put your finger in). When it is warmed, remove from the heat.

3) Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the beaten egg and warmed liquid. Mix together to form a dough.

4) Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. When you are satisfied that the dough is nice and soft and smooth, you need to raise it.

5) Place the dough into a clean bowl, cover with a clean tea towel or cling film and find a nice warm place for the dough to rise. It needs to be free from cold draughts and a place not too cold as the yeast will not work properly, but if it’s too hot the dough will begin to cook. An airing cupboard or on a chair in front of a warm oven are ideal. It will take up to an hour or so for the dough to rise, as it needs to double its size. By now the dough should be much softer to touch and if you cut it in half it should look like a sort of honeycomb caused by pockets of gas from the yeast working in a warm temperature. The next stage is for the yeast dough to be knocked back.

6) Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and gently knead it again for a few moments to push out some of the air from the dough.

7) Knock back the dough, lightly flour the work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough to about 1½ cm thick. Use a donut cutter to cut out nice rings of yeast dough.

8) Place the rings on a lightly floured tray. Cover with a clean cloth and place somewhere warm to allow to prove. This should take about 10 minutes.

9) While the doughnuts are proving, heat the oil in a large pan or wok to around 180°C. We don’t want the oil too cool or the doughnuts may end up heavy, but we don’t want the oil too hot or they will burn.

10) When the doughnuts have proven, very carefully lower one at a time into the oil. Fry for about 1 or 2 minutes on each side or until they are a light golden brown. Using a slotted spoon / or barbeque tongs, remove the doughnuts from the oil, drain on kitchen paper and while still hot roll in the cinnamon sugar coating or any other coating of your choice. Serve the donuts hot!