Erivum Puliyum: Classic Donuts

Monday, March 07, 2022

Classic Donuts | Doughnuts (VIDEO)

Did you know donuts were once called 'olykoeks' meaning 'oily cakes' as these were fried in oil when donuts were first brought to America? Strange but true is the fact that today the largest bakery of donuts is in Pensylvannia because Americans are donut crazy.😀

Donuts or Doughnuts? Quite a debatable topic! As the story goes, a New England woman fried some dough with nuts and sent with her son for his voyage at sea and called them 'donuts'. But her son was the one who created the hole in doughnuts, giving us the classic donuts shape. Baked Round Donuts are the ones that I posted sometime back, and it's a healthier option to frying. But kids at times wish to have the classic donuts that we get from bakeries and to satisfy them, I do make these once in a while. These are simple to make, and the dough is quite easy to prepare. The only time taken is for the dough to rise. Rest of the steps are quite simple and dipping in chocolate is optional. You can just dip them in sugar glaze too. Give these a try and enjoy !!

Preparation time ~ 10 minutes

Rising time ~ 1.5-2 hours

Cooking time ~ 10 minutes

Author ~ Julie

Ingredients

all-purpose flour 2 cups +1/4 cup

milk 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp

instant dry yeast 2tsp

granulated sugar 3tbsp

salt 1/2 tsp

unsalted butter, 3 tbsp

egg 1

oil to fry

Method

Mix the yeast with 3 tbsp lukewarm milk. Add sugar to fasten the process. Keep aside to proof or 10 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add the egg. Beat well with a wire whisk or spatula.
Mix the flour(2 cups) and salt. To this, add the yeast and egg mixture.
Add the remaining milk (1/2 cup) and knead well. The dough may be sticky at this point, add a little more flour if needed. Knead for about 6-7 minutes and then add softened butter. Combine and knead for another 2-3 minutes.
Oil a bowl and place the dough, The dough may not hold a neat shape, but that's fine. Cover and leave to rise for one hour.
After one hour, the dough doubles. Punch down the air and place on a lightly dusted surface. Roll the dough in 1/4' thickness.
Now using a doughnut cutter or using two lids or cookie cutter, cut out a 2' round and the smaller round with 1 cm lid. Place the cut donuts on a parchment paper and leave for second rise 20-25 minutes.
Heat oil in a pan and check if oil is hot enough. Slide the prepared donuts and wait for a minute ill the donuts puff up nice and then using a skewer, flip the other side. Brown the doughnuts golden and remove on a parchment paper.
Re roll the scraps and make more doughnuts and finish the dough. Continue to fry the remaining doughnuts.
If using a glaze, you can do that, or you can dust with confectioner's sugar.
I preferred dipping in melted chocolate, as kids love that way. Double boil the chocolate and dip each of the doughnuts in them and add sprinkles.