Is your belly rumbling at the reminder of Doughnut Day? We wouldn’t be surprised if it was, as most of us love these most scrumptious foods.
There are many varieties of doughnuts outside of that most commonly known, including twist doughnuts, fritters, and the hugely varied and popular filled doughnut.
SUGARED RING DOUGHNUT
Preparation Time: 35min Cooking Time: about 10min
INGREDIENTS
■ 200g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting ■ Pinch fine salt ■ 15g caster sugar + extra for topping ■ 7g dried fast action yeast ■ 50g unsalted butter ■ 100ml whole milk ■ 1 tsp vanilla extract ■ 1 free-range egg ■ Sunflower oil for deep-frying ■ 50g caster sugar ■ 1 tsp ground cinnamon
METHOD
1. In a bowl, add flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon and yeast. Then mix together. Once done,
stir in the egg.
2. Place the butter, milk and vanilla extract together into a small pan and warm over a very
gentle heat until the butter has melted and the milk is just warm but not boiling
(you should be able to put your finger in it without burning it).
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry mix and gradually add the milk mixture
and stir to form a rough dough. Tip out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes
adding more flour as necessary or until the dough is not sticky, smooth and elastic. Place into a bowl and leave to rise for at least 1 ½ hours or until doubled in volume.
4. Tip the dough out, again onto a very lightly floured surface. Knead lightly then divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll them between your palms to form balls and then place on
baking sheets well-spaced apart. Cover with a piece of greased cling film and leave to rise again 45 minutes (check time) or until doubled in size. (This will make the doughnuts light and fluffy once cooked).
5. Roll over the top of the doughnuts to flatten them to approx. 3cm in height –otherwise they will be huge! – and then using a lightly oiled 4cm pastry cutter.
Spin doughnuts around your index finger to expand holes slightly.
6. Fill a large deep frying pan to the depth of 10cm with oil and heat to 165°C - a piece of bread in it should sizzle to golden in about 15sec.
7. Carefully lower 2 or 3 doughnuts at a time on a slotted spoon and fry for 30 seconds on each side or until golden brown.
8. Lift on to kitchen paper to drain briefly before coating in sugar. Best served warm.