Friday, July 4, 2014

Doughnuts

Doughnuts, anyone? This is not one of those doughnuts with all sorts of topping or filling that you can find these days, but just an old-fashioned doughnut coated with plain caster sugar. And this is still my favourite type of doughnut, it wins hands down over all those fancy doughnuts with chocolates, nuts, fruits, jam and whatever topping or filling that  are so popular these days (and expensive too!).


These plain doughnuts are still my favourites, over those fancy ones!


Make the dough as per the instructions in the recipe below. After the first rising, the dough is then rolled out to about 1/2 inch thickness, and use a doughnut cutter to cut out the doughnut shapes. The scraps can be kneaded gently into a ball, roll them out again and repeat with the cut-outs. This single recipe yields 24 doughnuts.

Place the cut-out dough on lightly floured baking trays, cover with greased cling wrap and leave to proof for 35 minutes. Heat up oil, and turn down heat to low, deep fry doughnut dough in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. It takes about 2 minutes for each doughnut to brown and fully cooked over a low heat. Remove and drain on kitchen paper towel, and while still hot, roll the doughnuts in caster sugar. 

 
I made this over the weekend on a Saturday, for our tea-time treat with cups of warm tea, and it was so good!


Of course 24 doughnuts are just too much for us, so I gave some to our neighbour.


Look at the texture inside, can you see how soft and fluffy these doughnuts are?


I have 8 of Alex Goh's books and have tried many of his recipes, long before I've started my blog. The first book I bought was The World of Bread, then, Creative Making of Cakes and added on the rest over the years.  So far all of his recipes works out great, but my favourite are his yeasted breads. The World of Bread and Magic Bread are two of my most favourite books out of these 8 books.


Doughnuts
(adapted from "The World of Bread", Alex Goh)
(A)
300gm bread flour
200gm plain flour
10gm salt
60gm sugar
20gm milk powder
1/2 tbsp baking powder
3-1/2 tsps instant yeast

(B)
2 egg yolks
280ml cold water

(C)
50gm shortening (I use butter)

Method :

  1. Mix (A) in the bowl of a stand mixer till well blended. Add in (B) and using the dough hook, knead to form a rough dough. Add (C) and knead to form a smooth dough. It took me about 25 minutes. Dough is soft but not sticky.
  2. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large bowl which has been sprayed with some oil, turning dough over so that the top is coated with oil, cover bowl loosely with cling wrap, and leave to proof for 45 minutes, or till it doubles in size. It took mine only 30 minutes (the weather was really scorching hot that day!).
  3. Remove dough, mould it into a ball, cover with cling wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
  4. Roll it out to about 10mm thick. Using a doughnut cutter, cut out dough and place the cut-out doughnut onto a lightly floured baking tray. Cover with a wet cloth, but I prefer to use greased cling wrap, and leave to proof for 35 minutes.
  5. Have ready a bowl with caster sugar to coat the doughnuts later on.
  6. Heat oil, about 3in depth in  a wok or saucepan. Once the oil is hot, turn heat down to low, and carefully place one doughnut dough into the hot oil. Fry both sides till golden brown, turning them over frequently, as it takes only about 2 minutes to cook each doughnut.
  7. Remove doughnut to a kitchen paper towel to drain excess oil on both sides for a minute. While doughnut is still hot, roll it in the caster sugar to coat all around. Place on wire rack to cool. Extremely yummy when eaten while still warm! Enjoy!

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30 comments:

  1. Alex Goh's recipes are good. I do refer to his recipe too some time. Look at the douhnut holes.... so fluffy and soft... love this recipe.

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  2. yummy, it's an old fashion 'donat'. We really love it.

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  3. you are very right joyce... nothing beats the plain ol' donuts.. toss a few of these fluffy goodies over

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  4. I like this type of simple sugar coating doughnuts rather than those fancy topping. Just feel like having one now from you. Got to make it myself one of the days. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  5. Me Me Me!!!! I love such sugar donuts..Actually tos chocolate ones coated with the chocolate rice.,..how to resist these donuts...

    these donuts from alex goh's is definitely in my to bake list...thks Joyce for linking up n sharing this recipe with us ^^

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  6. Hi, Joyce...we are having the almost the same collection of Alex Goh...but there are four books shown in your photos that I don't have it ...

    I have a donut mould as well...I must try to make this using the mould.

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  7. Joyce, I will have to agree with you. Plain old fashioned doughnuts are the best!

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  8. Oh these donuts look fluffy! I shall made some for my kids soon.

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  9. Joyce I love your donuts !
    Look amazing!
    Xo

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  10. Awesome, Joyce! They look delicious!

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  11. I like them plain too, the fancy ones are too sweet for me…these are so lovely!

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  12. What light and airy looking doughnuts!

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  13. perfect doughnuts...me too love these plain ones

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  14. Joyce, your doughnuts are the most perfect airy, light as a 'feather' and super delicious! I haven't seen such beautiful droolworthy yummy doughnuts since my mother made some when we were kids...years, and years ago. Never learned how to make it. I must get a doughnut cutter from Amazon, and get started on it, following your amazing recipe. I would gobble up the entire batch...wish I was your neighbor too...lol!

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  15. Hi Joyce
    Wow, you have so many of his books! I don't have his World of Breads book, is there a big difference between World of Breads and Magic Bread? Btw love your donuts, I saw the recipe but I dare not make them bcos I hate deep-frying :)

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    1. Hi Miss B
      The World of Breads is his earlier book, the breads are made with normal proving method and some are made with sponge dough which is left to prove for a few hours before mixing into the main dough ingredients. As you know, Magic Bread uses the overnight starter. Both his books are wonderful! I have made some of his breads from World of Breads book, long before I started to blog and his breads are all good.
      There's really nothing to deep-frying, try it, it is really easy! Use a small saucepan so that you do not have to use so much of oil, and fry one or two doughtnuts at a time. They cook really quick, so it would not take long to finish frying the whole batch.
      Thanks for organising this baking event with Alex Goh, gave me the chance to bake from his wonderful recipes which I have bookmarked for ages! :)

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    2. Thanks for explaining, in fact I saw some of his older breads using sponge dough method in his Baking Code book. I don't have a doughnut cutter but I will try to improvise and see if I can cut out the doughnuts using a round cookie cutter and a bowl. Thanks for participating in this Alex Goh blog-hop, honestly 2 months is really too short a time for this blog-hop, I still haven't tried a lot of his other creations :)

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  16. Happy 4th July Joyce from my family to yours ! What a wonderful way to end the Holiday is a bunch of donuts and a cool glass of tea . ;-D

    PS: Joyce , is there a vacant house close to you ...~~Nee~~

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  17. This is my all time favorite - old fashion sugar coated doughnut. But it seems like quite a lot of steps and waits to make a good one like yours. I don't have such good patient in baking.

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  18. Hi Joyce, your dough nuts look so good, soft, moist and fluffy. It's a long time I haven't eaten dough nuts. How I wish I can have a share here.

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  19. Hi Joyce,
    I am with you, I love plain doughnuts.
    I coming over for tea!! Hehe
    mui

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  20. I am giving you 2 thumbs up Joyce!!! Gorgeous and fluffy donuts!!! Sweeeeeeeeeeee!

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  21. Oh my! Your donuts look like they are from the bakery. Delicious! I agree the plain donuts with sugar topping are one of my favorites.
    Thanks for sharing.

    Velva

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  22. wow, look really fluffy! i also like the plain donuts with just the sugar coating ones...but sometimes when i see those fancy that comes with attractive flavours i cant resist to buy too.

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  23. They look indeed very fluffy and soft. Good work, Joyce.

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  24. I am raising my hands for these donuts! I love these old fashioned sugar coated types... they are still the best!

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  25. Looks wonderful! I just have one question: do you need to wait for the oil to cool a little before putting any doughnuts in? Thanks so much!

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    1. Hi Sara,
      No, there's no need to wait for the oil to cool a little, but on the other hand, if the oil has cooled off, you might need to bring it back to hot again for a minute or two, and turn down heat to low as soon as the oil gets hot before you put the dough in. The doughnuts gets cooked and browned quite quickly, so turn them a few times for even browning.
      Thanks for stopping by and if you do try out this doughnut, let me know how it works for you!

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