I hope you are as excited as I am for today’s recipe!
Are you ready to embark on a culinary adventure that will tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving more? Today, we’re diving into the world of deep-fried donuts, a classic treat that has captivated hearts and stomachs for generations.
Homemade Donuts
Homemade doughnuts happen to be one of our children’s favorite breakfast recipes. Our youngest keeps asking when we’re going to have donuts next, and specifically this recipe. At the writing of this post, her birthday is a few days away. It’s not very hard to know what to serve for breakfast on her birthday.
Learning to Make Fluffy Doughnuts
Fluffy donuts are delicious! Being able to make them at home is an added advantage.
I learned most of my recipes in a home science class in Primary as well as High School. I first learned the basics of making donuts then. Several years later, I got to experiment more with many of the recipes I learned then and eventually developed tastier versions of the same in an easy-to-do way.
An Easy Donut Recipe
This donut recipe is so good! Not only do we love it in our household, our guests love this recipe too! The good news is it’s so easy to make and the ingredients are readily available.
I have also demonstrated how to make this recipe on YouTube. You can find the recipe here or at the end of this post.
A Donut Recipe for Beginners
Whether you’re a seasoned baker or a novice in the kitchen, this recipe will guide you through the process of creating fluffy, golden-brown donuts that are simply irresistible.
The process of making the doughnuts is easy-to-follow. If you don’t have all the equipment such as a donut cutter, the equipment required can be easily improvised with what you already have in the kitchen.
What ingredients will we use?
Here are the ingredients you need to make these delicious doughnuts at home. They are most likely in your pantry already:
All-purpose flour
I work with any quality all-purpose flour to make this deep-fried donut recipe. Use your favorite all-purpose flour brand to make the donuts.
Yeast
Work with good quality fresh yeast. If you use yeast that is not fresh, you might compromise the result. Your donuts may not turn out as well as you anticipated. I use instant yeast mostly for this recipe.
If you have active dry yeast, the proofing of the bread may take longer but will work well too.
Sugar
Sugar will not only help feed the yeast and hence help with the proofing process; it will give some taste to the donuts. You can reduce the sugar further or substitute it with honey. You can then work with a little honey also for proofing when feeding the yeast at the beginning of the recipe guide below. About ¼ teaspoon.
Salt
The salt enhances the taste of your doughnuts even more. Salt gives the donuts a delicious balanced taste that you will enjoy.
Cooking oil
Any good quality healthy cooking oil will do as long as it is suitable for deep-frying.
Marge/ butter
Marge or butter not only enhances the taste of the donuts, it gives the dough a shortening effect that results in softer donuts you will enjoy. You can use either marge or butter. For this recipe, your marge or butter should be melted and warm.
To melt the marge or butter, prepare a water bath by boiling water in a saucepan. The water should be about halfway or slightly less in the pan so it doesn’t get into the marge or butter while it is melting. Transfer the marge you need to a suitable little bowl that is a good conductor of heat. Place the little bowl in the hot water. The butter will begin to melt. Occasionally swirl it around in the little bowl gently until it has all melted.
Alternatively, transfer the marge/ butter to a micro-oven-friendly suitable bowl. Cover it and microwave it for 20 to 30 seconds. If some hasn’t melted, swirl it around for a minute or so. I t will all melt.
*Note that when you need to use the melted marge or butter, ensure it is warm or lukewarm. If it is hot, it will burn your yeast.
Eggs
Eggs not only make the recipe nutritious, the donuts are softer, fluffier, and tastier.
I must add here that if you’d rather not add eggs though, (Or you’ve run out of eggs) your recipe will still be tasty. I’ve made donuts without eggs and they still turned out delicious.
Milk
Milk will make your donuts healthier, softer, and more nutritious too.
Let’s now make our delightful donuts!
Easy Homemade Donut Recipe: Perfect for Beginners
Equipment
- 1 Large bowl
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- Measuring cups and spoons (If you don’t have these, improvise with cups and spoons closest in size)
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Donut cutter (I often improvise with a suitable cup and a water bottle top to cut the little round shapes in the middle)
- 1 Deep frying pan or large pot
- 1 Slotted spoon or chop sticks to turn
- 1 Clean Kitchen Towel
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup sugar or as preferred (If using a glaze that has powdered sugar, you can reduce the sugar to ¼ cup)
- 1 tsp yeast (7.5 ml)
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsps melted marge/ butter
- Slightly more than ½ cup warm milk
- Cooking oil for frying
- A little icing/ powdered sugar for dusting fried donuts (You can work with a glaze of choice also)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine ¼ cup of the warm milk, yeast, and ¼ teaspoon of the sugar. Let it sit for 7-10 minutes, or until the mixture becomes foamy. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, add the flour, salt, and the remaining sugar. Evenly combine with a wooden spoon.
- Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add the eggs, melted marge/ butter, and ¼ cup of milk. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.Add half of the flour mixture. Stir with your wooden spoon. Add the remaining flour and stir some more. As the dough stiffens, begin mixing with your hands. Depending on the consistency of the dough, add a few more drops of milk and mix until a soft dough forms.This step is optional. I like to cover my dough at this point and I let it rest for 10 minutes. You can skip this step if you don't have a lot of time.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 7-10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.Place the dough in a bowl, lightly brush the surface of the dough with some cooking oil to keep it soft and supple. Cover with a clean kitchen towel (or plastic wrap) and let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, or until doubled in size.
- Once the dough has risen, punch it down, knead for a minute or so. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1 centimeter in thickness.
- Shape the donuts. Use a donut cutter to cut out as many donuts and donut holes as possible. If you don’t have a donut cutter, improvise by using a cup or glass with a wide mouth to cut the shapes. (Improvise with any suitably-shaped item in your kitchen. Make the donut holes with a water bottle top.
- You can see in the picture below an example of the kinds of shapes I’m referring to)If your household doesn’t necessarily fancy the tiny round shapes from the donut holes, gather them and the remaining dough in a large piece of dough and keep rolling out and forming more shapes until you are done. Don’t use a lot of flour to dust. You’ll interfere with the texture of the dough.
- Fry the donuts. Heat the oil in a deep-frying pan or large pot to 350°F (175°C). In the absence of a thermometer, you can do this instead: Carefully slide a tiny donut hole piece of dough (or one of the donut pieces) into the cooking oil to fry it first. Once it has browned to a pleasant golden color on both sides, You'll be good to go frying the rest.Carefully slide a few donuts into the hot oil, being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Allow them about a centimeter between the pieces.Fry the donuts on both sides until golden brown.
- Remove the donuts from the oil and transfer to a suitable tray or platter lined with paper towels to drain out any excess oil. Alternatively, drain them on a wire rack placed over a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Fry the remaining donut pieces the same way until they are all ready.
- Dust the donuts with the powdered sugar while still warm. Serve the doughnuts warm with a cup of tea. We love donuts with our Kenyan tea. You can serve them with your favorite beverage.Enhance your hospitality for the glory of God.
Video
Notes
Tips for the Perfect Deep-Fried Donut:
• Use fresh high-quality ingredients, especially the yeast:Fresh ingredients will result in the best-tasting donuts. • Don't overcrowd the frying pan or pot when frying the doughnuts:
Frying too many donuts at once will lower the oil temperature and result in greasy donuts. I like to space them about a centimeter between the pieces as I fry. • Test the oil temperature: Use a thermometer to ensure the oil is at the correct temperature. If you do not have a thermometer, test by adding one donut piece first. Once it has fried nicely on both sides, then you can fry the rest. • Drain the donuts properly: Remove excess oil by draining the donuts on a wire rack or transferring them to a suitable tray lined with paper towels to drain out the excess oil.
• If glazing the donuts, do this while they're still warm:
This will help the glaze adhere to the donuts. In this recipe, I dusted them with powdered sugar. Even when you dust them, do it while the doughnuts are warm too. Enhance your hospitality for the glory of God.
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