We love making donuts each year around Hanukkah. Sprinkled in cinnamon sugar, or filled with jam and dusted with icing sugar, they are looked forward to every winter. Because these are a yeasted product we use a stronger flour such as Red Fife.
Makes 30 donuts.
Ingredients:
6g (2tsp) instant yeast
160mL (2/3 cup) warm milk
1kg sifted Red Fife flour (85% extraction)
80g (1/3 cup) sugar
10g (2tsp) salt
8 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
Zest of half an orange
160g soft butter
Sunflower oil for frying
Jam for filling, confectioners sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon for serving
Directions:
1) Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk.
2) Put flour, sugar, salt, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and remaining milk in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the dissolved yeast and knead for 5 minutes.
3) Add butter gradually and knead for an additional 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.
4) Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
5) Knead for 1 more minute, form the dough into a ball and place on a floured work bench. Cover with a towel and let rise for 20 minutes.
6) Divide the dough into 30 doughnuts. Roll the dough out and cut with a 4 inch circle or ring cutter, depending on whether you would like filled doughnuts or ring shaped doughnuts.
7) Place doughnuts on floured baking sheets and place in the oven with a saucepan of boiled water at the bottom of the oven. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to an hour.
8) Prepare oil for deep frying. Heat to 190C/375F.
9) Brush off any excess flour from the doughnuts before frying, as the flour will burn in the hot oil. Test one doughnut first. Place in hot oil, top side down, and fry until it is golden brown on the bottom side, then flip and cook until golden brown on both sides. Cut the first doughnut open. If it is gummy inside, but browned on the outside the oil is too hot.
10) Fry in batches and place on a wire rack for excess oil to drip off. To fill doughnuts, put jam in a pastry bag with a large circle tip, pierce the doughnut in the centre and squeeze to fill. Later, dust filled doughnuts in confectioners sugar. For ring doughnuts dip in a mix of granulated sugar and cinnamon.