Yeast Donuts

We used to make glazed yeast donuts as a family from time to time and it brings back lots of great memories! They are so yummy! Store bought do not compare!

I've been wanting to share this recipe for a really long time. I planned to post it ever since I posted about Freezing Uncooked Donuts for Fresh Later. It would have been nice to have step by step pictures with the instructions, but we've been making some changes for our health and I just don't think I'll be making donuts anytime soon. I still want to share the recipe with you so although I don't have step by step pictures, I do have pictures of donuts I made with this recipe (the last time I made them- over a year ago).

So here it is:

Donuts

1/2 cup warm water

2 tablespoons yeast

1 pinch ginger

1/2 cup flour

In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients listed above: lukewarm water, yeast, ginger and flour. Let stand for 5-10 minutes to activate the yeast.

2 cups water

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

flour

Heat up the water and shortening together to melt the shortening. Let it cool to lukewarm and mix in the sugar, salt and eggs. Then mix in the yeast mixture. (It's important that it's not too hot because you don't want to cook the eggs or kill the yeast.) 

Start adding flour. I've never measured this part; I just add about 1/2 cup at a time mixing it in. When it gets too thick to mix with a spoon, start kneading it. I guess most people take the dough out of the bowl at this point and knead it on a floured surface. I find it less messy to knead it right in the bowl. I was taught that it should be "soft as a baby's bottom." When it reaches this point, place it in an oiled bowl, turning it to oil the outside of the dough. Cover with a damp towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for an hour or until doubled. Or you could cover it and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. 

Next, roll it out on a flat and floured or oiled surface to 3/4" thick and cut out the donuts. I use a tuna can for the donut and a film canister for the holes. 

Cover the donuts and let them rise for a half hour. Or flash freeze them to use later (see Freezing Uncooked Donuts for Fresh Later). 

Cook them to golden on each side in hot oil. From the oil, I put them into a cake pan to drain the oil. Then glaze them as desired while they are still warm. Rewarm cold unfrosted donuts in the oven.

Glaze:

Mix together powdered sugar and water into a slightly runny, but still thick mixture. I prefer to only dip one side of the donut so it's not overly sweet, but growing up, we always completely covered the donuts in the glaze.

Sugared:

I worked at a bakery at one point and learned some neat techniques for sugaring donuts. Put the sugar in a container and add the donuts. Put the lid on and shake it to cover the donut. Genius! :)

There are two main kinds of sugared donuts. One is a straight powdered sugar. The other is a mixture of cinnamon and granulated sugar: 3 tablespoons of sugar to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. 

The cinnamon sugar is definitely my favorite. But growing up, we always made glazed and that brings back lots of great memories.