Fried Doughnuts

1. 1.

   Melt the butter in the microwave or a pan. I use the microwave, and I put the butter in there for about 45 seconds. If you would rather melt in the pan, do it over low heat and stir constantly until melted.

2. 2.

   In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a regular large mixing bowl, crack and beat the egg. Add the melted butter, buttermilk, and water (read your yeast packaging to see recommended water temperatures; you don’t want it scorching hot, but you don’t want it just lukewarm). Mix until combined. Add the sugar, salt, and yeast to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.

3. 3.

   Add the flour to the mixing bowl and knead on low to medium-low speed until smooth, soft, and stretchy. When you think it’s done, cut off a small piece, roll into a ball with your palms, and check for a gluten window. If your dough tears easily, return it to the bowl and continue kneading. Repeat until your dough can pass the window test.

4. 4.

   Remove the dough from the bowl and roll into a ball. Grease the mixing bowl thoroughly with oil and return the dough ball to the bowl. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes.

5. 5.

   Once the dough has rested, remove it from the bowl and cut into small pieces. Roll the dough pieces into balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment, with enough space between the dough balls to allow for rising. Remember that the doughnut holes should grow to be twice their current size, so keep that in mind when deciding how much space to leave between them! Cover the dough with clean towels, tucking the ends underneath the tray. Leave to rise until they are twice their current size – somewhere between 45 and 75 minutes.

6. 6.

   In a deep pan, heat a few centimeters or a couple inches of canola oil to approximately 375°F. You can sprinkle a little flour into the oil to see when it’s hot enough if you don’t have a thermometer. If the flour is frying, the oil is hot enough.

7. 7.

   Drop proofed doughnuts into the hot oil and let fry until the bottom half is golden brown. Flip the doughnuts, and let fry until the whole thing is golden brown. Remove and set aside on a plate or in a bowl.

8. 8.

   You can eat the doughnuts now, but if you’re like me, you’ll want to put something on them. I like to roll mine in granulated sugar or a vanilla glaze, but you can also do a cinnamon sugar mix (1/2 cup sugar, 2 tbsp ground cinnamon), crushed cereal, chopped bacon, icing sugar, or anything else that you like. I pour a little oil into one large bowl and a little of whatever I want to use to coat the doughnuts in another large bowl. Then, I put the doughnuts in the bowl with the oil and shake the bowl to roll them around until they are well coated. I then transfer them to the other bowl, and roll them around again until coated.

9. 9.

   You can make a simple vanilla glaze with icing sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Put a cup of icing sugar in a bowl, and add 1 tsp of vanilla extract. While mixing with a whisk, slowly add milk until you have a thin glaze. There’s a lot of wiggle room in the milk:sugar ratio – you can make the glaze as thick or as thin as you like.