Baker's Hideout: Nutty about Doughnuts~~

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Finally! It's the day to post up about this month's challenge. October. My. First. Challenge.

*jumps* *hops* *turns around in circles*

I wouldn't say it went brilliantly, but then again, I'm a perfectionist. Hardly anything can pass my test of being "the best it could EVER be".

Out of the four recipes, I went with the yeast doughnuts, with some minor modifications.

Yeast Doughnuts

Ingredients

180ml Milk
35g Butter
1pkg/7g Active Dry Yeast
40 ml Warm Water
1 Large egg, beaten
22.5g White Granulated Sugar
1/2 tsp Table Salt
2 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the butter.

2. Place the butter in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Make sure the butter is melted. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and butter mixture has cooled to lukewarm.

4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.

5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.

6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.

7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).

9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes. *I used a smaller doughnut cutter, as I wanted mini doughnuts.

10. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

11. Bake for 10-15 minutes under golden brown.

12. Transfer to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

You can choose to fry these in oil heated to about 350°F, but I decided to go with the healthier option of baking them instead. Turned out great!

I made some doughnut sticks as well as those adorable mini ones.