Easy Homemade Donut Recipe: Perfect for Beginners
Make these delicious homemade donuts! This recipe produces soft and fluffy doughnuts that are easy to make. Our simple recipe is perfect for beginners. No special equipment or skills is required. This is one of our favorite donut recipes. You will love these delicious donuts too!
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.