The Circle of Life (is Definitely a Doughnut).

I haven't attempted fried chicken again, although I do have a recipe for sweet tea fried chicken in the pipeline.  One reason for my hesitation: the frying itself.  We have an electric range, and although it makes cleaning easier and is great for quickly heating food, it can be difficult to keep at a constant temperature.  And keeping oil at a constant temperature is especially important for fried foods.  So I was about to skip making these doughnuts because I was intimidated by the prospect of oily doughnuts, burned oil, grease fires, etc.  Then I thought, "If I never try frying again, how will I ever learn to do it well?"  I'm glad I tried again.  Although I think the "Copycat Krispy Kreme" label on this recipe might be a misnomer-- I'm pretty sure if you undercooked them they'd be more similar, but fully browned, these are definitely more cake-y and taste more... homemade somehow-- they are definitely a make-again.  Next time I might experiment with adding pumpkin.*

Pumpkin everything is here!

While these came out well, here are a few things I would do differently next time:
1) Let the dough proof longer during the second rise.  To know if doughnuts have proofed enough, there should ideally be a lighter ring around the center of the doughnuts after frying on both sides where the dough sat above the oil.
2) Use evaporated milk instead of water for the glaze and make it closer to the time I put the doughnuts in the oil.  Water was fine, but to get it to the right consistency, you have to add more than the recipe calls for, which in turn waters down the taste.  I later dipped half of the doughnuts in butter and then into sugar and cinnamon, because the glaze recipe didn't make much at all and hardened quickly.
3) Slightly undercook, mostly to see the difference in texture.

First, I scalded and cooled the milk.  To scald milk, rinse a saucepan with cold water (this will help the milk not burn) and dry thoroughly.  Then heat the milk until steam forms and small bubbles appear around the edges.  Take off the heat and stir until the milk stops steaming.

I let the yeast dissolve in the water in a mixing bowl, then added the eggs, shortening, sugar, salt, and milk, then stirred in two cups of flour.  I used a dough hook, but you can use a wooden spoon or regular beater. 

I added the rest of the flour until a soft dough formed.

Then I put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, covered, and let it rise for an hour until doubled in size. I use the bread proof setting on my oven, but you can let it rise in any warm, draft-free area.  When the dough is ready, it will hold a thumbprint without bouncing back.

I gently punched down the dough, rolled it around on a floured surface, then rolled it out using a rolling pin until it was roughly half an inch thick.  I couldn't find any regular doughnut cutters, so I used a larger and a smaller cookie cutter, cutting out the large rounds first and then cutting out the centers.  I gathered the centers and scraps and rolled them out together to cut out more doughnuts, but you can always make doughnut holes with them.

I put the formed doughtnuts on baking trays rubbed with a little vegetable oil (I would recommend flouring the trays too; the doughnuts stuck some).  I covered them with a light towel, though the picture shows them uncovered, and let them rise another 40 minutes until roughly doubled in size again.  I think another 20 minutes (so an hour total) would have been better.

I put the oil on the stove to heat while the doughnuts were finishing their rise, enough to reach about 2 1/2" up the sides of the pot**, turning the dial one notch above medium heat (to 6 on my stove top). As it was heating, I made the glaze.  I should have waited until the oil was about ready, because the glaze hardened quickly. I melted the butter, added the sugar, added the vanilla off the heat, and then added water one tablespoon at a time until the glaze reached the desired consistency (think syrup-like).  The glaze looks browner than it does when it is on the doughnuts because of the vanilla.  

Then it was doughnut making time!  Once the oil reached 350°F, I took a spatula and carefully slid doughnuts into the oil, frying them in small batches.  They puff up quickly.  Overcrowding the pan can cause the temperature of the oil to go down and leave you with greasy food or food that is cooked on the outside but raw on the inside (this is why frying chicken is so hard!).  Many times, it's necessary to turn the heat slightly up after any food is added to the oil to prevent a drop in temperature. There was never a noticeable fluctuation frying the doughnuts 4-5 at a time, so I didn't change the heat setting.

To flip, I used the handles of two wooden spoons, placing one gently in the hole of a doughnut and using the other to flip it from the side.  They should be golden brown (45-60 seconds on each side).  I transferred them to a stack of paper towels, turning them over once to remove any excess oil.*** At this point, I was working quickly to get the doughnuts fried and dipped into the glaze on each side because the glaze was hardening so fast, so I couldn't get decent pictures.  I transferred the dipped doughnuts to wire racks over paper towels to cool.

Some doughnuts still didn't get glazed, so I melted some butter and dipped them lightly on each side into that and then into a mixture of 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon.  

I think I actually preferred the cinnamon and sugar ones, but because I didn't do that until the next day, I only took pictures of the glazed.  Not that the glazed doughnuts were bad.  They're almost all gone now...

****

DEEMS THIS RECIPE:
Somewhat surprisingly, easier than pie.

* I am that person who likes pumpkin everything in the fall.

**Yes, this took almost 40 ounces of canola oil. Try not to consider it a waste, because you can reuse oil for frying.  Let it cool, then funnel it back into the bottle using a paper towel or cheesecloth to catch any burned food bits.  

*** If done properly, there shouldn't be much excess oil.  Food absorbs far less oil during frying than you might think.

****I should have a better camera in time for the next post!