Making doughnuts is not for the faint of heart. I’ve tried yeast-free ones (kid #3 is allergic to yeast) and while the whole deep-fried-and-rolled-in-cinnamon-sugar thing made them yummy, they didn’t have the doughnut texture I like. And, since Kylie is a figment of my imagination, she wasn’t fussed about them either.
The following recipe is adapted from one I found online at Christina’s Cucina, and she adapted it from a recipe she found in the Bread Machine Bible, so it’s one of those recipes that can take a lot of tweaking and still be delicious.
Apparently weighing the ingredients is the key to getting the batter right, so if you don’t have kitchen scales (or a lot of time) then heading to your local version of The Billy Button Cafe may be the easiest way to fulfill your doughnut urge.
Dry Ingredients
450g plain flour
60g sugar
1 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
150ml buttermilk
1 egg
60g butter, melted
Rising Agent
90ml water, lukewarm
1½ tsp yeast
Other
oil for frying
sugar and cinnamon
your choice of fillings/toppings (Kylie likes butterscotch sauce, I like raspberry jam, kid #4 likes chocolate ganache)
Method
1. Place water in a small bowl, sprinkle over yeast and leave for 5 minutes until a reaction starts
2. Place wet ingredients in a jug or bowl and whisk in the activated yeast mixture
3. Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a hole in the centre, then pour in the wet ingredients with yeast
4. Knead for about 10 minutes, then cover and set aside for 60–100 minutes until doubled in size
5. Knock down the dough, knead slightly, then pinch and roll into half-inch balls (for small round doughnuts) and line them up on baking paper to rest until they’ve doubled in size (30 minutes or so)
6. Heat the oil in a deep fryer or wok over medium heat (I don’t have a thermometer and so I just wing it)
7. Cook a few at a time, rolling them over so they brown evenly
8. When they’re coolish, roll them in sugar and cinnamon (lesson I learned the hard way: rolling them when they’re hot turns the sugar mix into goo)
Calories: a lot
Nutritional factor: minimal
Keto: nope lol
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stella Quinn
Stella Quinn has had a love affair with books since she first discovered the alphabet. She lives in sunny Queensland now, but has lived in England, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. Boarding school in a Queensland country town left Stella with a love of small towns and heritage buildings (and a fear of chenille bedspreads and meatloaf!) and that is why she loves writing rural romance. Stella is a keen scrabble player, she’s very partial to her four kids and anything with four furry feet, and she is a mediocre grower of orchids. An active member of Romance Writers of Australia, Stella has won their Emerald, Sapphire and Valerie Parv Awards, and finaled in their R*BY Romantic Book of the Year award.