Baked Sugar Donuts

You may ask what's so special about these donuts? It's not like I haven't made any in the past. But you'll notice that they are more plump and it's because these are yeasty donuts or yeasted- for lack of a better word. I finally got to use my donut cutter complete with holes! A trip to Daiso saved me shipping and handling fees and it is already a bargain to begin with- $1.99 if I remember right :-)

I can't believe I had this cutter since April and I just used it today for the first time. I wanted simple sugar raised donuts and this is what I came up with.

Baked Sugar Donuts
recipe adapted from 101cookbooks

For the dough
2/3 cup warm milk, (divided)
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tbsp butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

For dipping
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp melted unsalted butter

The procedures are no different from making basic dinner rolls but shaped like donuts. So I started by preparing my rising agent. Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and let sit for five minutes. If yeast does not bubble up, discard and start again with fresh yeast.

Meanwhile, stir the butter into the remaining warm milk to melt it. Add the remaining milk, butter, sugar, egg and flour to the yeast and mix together with the paddle attachment, then switch to the dough hook and continue mixing until dough is smooth and pulling away from the sides of the bowl, adding more flour if dough is sticky or more milk if too dry.

Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead a few times (dough should be barely sticky), shape into a ball and place in an oiled boil, turning to coat the dough with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-2 hours.

Punch dough down and roll it out onto a lightly-floured surface to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out 4-inch circles and transfer them to parchment-lined cookie sheets. Then cut out 2 1/4-inch circles from the centers. Loosely cover the donuts with plastic wrap.

At this point, you may either let the donuts rise for 45 minutes and proceed to bake them, or refrigerate them overnight. After refrigeration, let donuts rise 1 hour in a warm place. Bake at 375 F just until donuts take on a golden tinge, about 8-10 minutes.

While donuts are baking, pour the 1/2 cup milk into one bowl and sugar another. I wanted a maple glaze but ran out of powdered sugar so mine was kind of runny so ended up with milk, melted butter and sugar dips. I have a jar of vanilla almond sugar on stand by but it doesn't suit the donuts. I will use it in my coffee cakes.

As soon as the donuts are done, dip the tops of the donuts in the milk and then press into sugar or butter first then into sugar. Work quickly to finish this while the donuts are still hot (the heat will melt the sugar slightly, helping it to stick and form a divine crunchy layer). Serve donuts warm from the oven.

See the tender interior of the donut hole. The donuts taste simply delicious with just the milk and sugar dips. And the best thing about these donuts- they're baked!