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A doughnut recipe and troubleshooting guide for tips on how to make (deep-fried) Perfect Doughnuts with a Vanilla Glaze!
(PIN IT FOR LATER)
Let’s talk perfect doughnuts! 🙂
Deliciously fluffy and airy (on the inside), and tender (on the outside) fried pieces of dough coated with a sweet glaze? What’s not to love about that? Doughnuts (or donuts, I’ll be using both spellings interchangeably in this post) have been around for centuries – and glazes, fillings and other little twists aside – there’s a reason why this little treat is still so popular in essentially the same way it was first conceived. Yes, there are baked, raw “donuts” out there now, but a deep-fried donut is where it all started, and there’s nothing like it in terms of flavour and texture.
I made doughnuts for the blog for the first time when I made these Simpsons doughnuts, a while back. I went through a few versions before I arrived at this recipe, and have loved making doughnuts since then!
My beautiful girl Madeleine, from KitchenAid certainly makes the job of making perfect donuts at home a lot easier! She’s my prized possession in the kitchen right now, and I absolutely love how smoothly it works.
Speaking of mixers, have you guys seen the KitchenAid mini mixers? A Madeleine junior might just be even more adorable, don’t you think?
PERFECT DOUGHNUTS TROUBLESHOOTING TUTORIAL
Flavour
These doughnuts (donuts) are made with 1 tbsp of instant dry yeast. This may seem like a lot, but it ensures that the dough rises well, especially when it’s resting in the refrigerator, and it gives the donuts that characteristic flavour that we all love.
The overnight rise is preferable for developing flavour. Much like my favourite pizza dough, the cold rise of any yeasted dough lends characteristic flavour and texture to the doughnut, which a “warm place rise” simply cannot replicate. Why? A cold rise slows down the process of yeast growth, allowing the yeast to develop a deeper flavour as they grow and multiply. Plus, a chilled dough is easier to handle as well.
Butter plays an important part in this recipe too. Butter or oil, softens the gluten structure that you develop during the kneading process. This makes the dough soft and shiny and adds flavour too. It’s important to incorporate the butter properly. You could possibly melt the butter and add it in a stream while kneading, but the method I’ve described in this recipe is what works best for me to get perfect donuts. I add the butter at the end, so that the flour has had a chance to completely hydrate with the milk and water that were added before. Kneading while adding butter one table spoon at a time helps distribute the butter evenly throughout the dough. If you need to, you could increase the speed of your mixer to help the butter incorporate into the dough better.
Preparing the dough
You can roll out the dough and cut out circles (or any donut shape you like). For regular doughnuts, I use round cutters (as you can see in the photos and video) to get the shapes and sizes I want. You could use a custom doughnut cutter too, but I prefer using 2 cookie/biscuit cutters, since I find them sharper and they cut through the dough cleanly.
When you cut out circles, or regular doughnut shapes, you’re going to end up with scraps. These scraps can be re-rolled (after a one hour resting time in the fridge) and then cut again, once. Remember, you want to cut out as many as you can from the first roll, because the 2nd re-rolled dough is harder to handle and can end up being thicker than your first batch (due to over handling of the dough and not enough resting). So re-rolling the scraps a second time isn’t really ideal if you’re looking for PERFECT donuts. To avoid that, I try to use up as much of the dough scraps to make donut holes instead! 🙂
If you want filled donuts, then you can simply cut/divide the dough in to portions more or less equally, and roll them into smooth balls.
Knowing when the doughnuts are ready to be fried
The second proofing usually only takes 1 hour at a room temperature of around 72°F- 75°F (22°C- 25°C) – a little less in the summer if it’s warmer, and a little longer in the winter if it’s cooler.
After I leave the doughnuts (covered with plastic wrap) for this second rise, I check on them after 30 minutes and then every 10-15 minutes. Check the first doughnut you cut out/rolled up and lightly press/prod it.
If the indentation you make with your finger immediately disappears, the dough is not done yet (underproofed).
If the indentation stays (see the video) – it’s ready! Remove the plastic wrap, and it’s time to heat up that oil.
However, if the cut dough starts to deflate, then it has been overproofed (which is why you should keep an eye on them after the first 30 minutes of your second proofing step), and will need to be re-kneaded, and re-chilled in the fridge for at least one hour (to rest).
Here’s another important tip that works for me – once the doughnuts have been perfectly proofed, take off that plastic wrap cover and let the dough “dry” for about 10-15 minutes. This will form a crust on the surface of the doughnuts and will make it easier to handle them and protects the donuts while they are being fried.
This step is not required, but I’ve found that it makes it easier for me to pick up the donuts, and it also helps them keep their shape better during frying.
What happens if the doughnuts haven’t been proofed properly?
Overproofed – leads to oily, collapsed, flat donuts.
Underproofed – leads to stiffer (denser) donuts that don’t puff up well when fried.
Cracked donuts – this may have happened if you used a cutter and it wasn’t sharp enough to cut through the dough cleanly. Or the dough is underproofed or too cold.
Balled up donuts – if the dough has not had enough time to rest (especially donuts cut from the second re-roll), they tend to shrink (in width, not in height) and ball up when fried.
If your donuts were rested and proofed correctly, frying is the next step.
Frying doughnuts
The optimum temperature for the oil/shortening should be 370°-375°F (188-191°C).
If your oil is at this optimum temperature, then the oil does its job, and when you drain your fried doughnuts, any excess oil gets drained out cleanly so that you don’t end up with any oily residue on your doughnuts.
But if the oil temperature is too low (lower than around 360ºF/183°C), you will end up with very oily doughnuts, since the oil gets trapped and absorbed by the dough.
Conversely, if the oil/shortening is too hot, this results in your doughnuts browning too fast and leaving a raw center, or burnt doughnuts, or both!
Another tip for frying doughnuts – you want your doughnuts to float in the oil/shortening. Since only half of the doughnut gets fried at a time (only half is submerged in the oil due to buoyancy resulting from that light, airy inside), you might be tempted to shallow fry it with less oil. DO NOT do that! Please make sure there’s a good amount of oil, allowing the doughnuts to freely float while being fried.
Plus, it’s easier to maintain the temperature of the oil when there’s a sufficient volume of it too. The oil heats more evenly resulting in evenly browned/fried perfect donuts.
Glazing doughnuts
If you’re only glazing doughnuts (for classic glazed doughnuts), then wait till the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, but still warm. Warmer doughnuts are easier to glaze than cold doughnuts and it results in a thinner, more even glaze. However, I have glazed doughnuts that were at room temperature as well without an issue. But if I’m planning on filling my doughnuts, then I prefer to let them cool first, then fill and finally glaze them, especially because I work alone. If you have someone lending you a helping hand – you can have them glaze the doughnuts while they’re still warm.
Doughnuts are best eaten on the same day they are made! Really. Unglazed doughnuts really don’t taste that great the next day – unless they were stored in an air-tight container. Glazed doughnuts withstand time and drying slightly better because they are protected by that glaze which prevents them from going stale rapidly. These taste pretty good even the next day. But so-so by the third day, by which time, you could probably consider making bread pudding out of those doughnuts! 🙂 That’s what I do if we have leftovers and that tastes pretty amazing as well!
We have stored glazed doughnuts in the freezer as well, which helps keep them fresh for longer (up to a week). Each doughnut was stored separately in a ziploc bag. They thaw out fairly quickly at room temperature when you’re ready to snack!
RECIPE VIDEO
Ingredients
Dough for the Doughnuts
- 500 g / 17.6 oz of AP flour
- ½ cup 120mL lukewarm water
- ½ cup 120mL lukewarm milk
- 1 tbsp yeast instant dry
- 1 large egg
- 1 large yolk
- 4 tbsp sugar ¼ cup
- 4 tbsp butter / 58g softened
- Generous pinch of salt
Glaze
- 2 cup icing sugar or confectioner's sugar
- ⅓ cup +a few tbsp milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Doughnut Dough
Set aside about ¼ cup of the flour and place the rest in the mixing bowl with the sugar, water, milk, yeast mix, eggs and salt (that excess flour you set aside is in case you need it later).
- Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment or kneading hook on your mixer, until the mix comes together.
- If you used the paddle mix, switch to the dough hook and start kneading the dough.
- Add the softened butter (1/2 - 1 tbsp at a time) until it's all incorporated. Add some flour, if you need to get the dough off the sides of the bowl. Add the rest of the flour if needed, to form a soft dough ball.
- Knead the dough for about 5 - 7 minutes until you have a soft, shiny, slightly tacky dough.
- Knead the dough for a couple of minutes in your hands till you have a smooth dough ball.
- Place this ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl (with enough room to rise) and cover with plastic wrap. (remember to place the dough with the seam side down).
Let the dough rise at room temperature (70-75°F) until it is has doubled in size - this should take about an hour, maybe less depending on how warm the ambient temp. is. (If you are pressed for time, you can let it proof in the fridge - for at least 12 - 24 hours, and continue from step 10).
If you allowed the dough to rise at room temperature - gently release the air in the dough and refrigerate it overnight, for a second slow proof. This helps develop the flavours of the dough better and the dough is also easier to handle when chilled. (However, you can roll out the dough and start cutting at this point if you wish. But I recommend leaving it overnight - or at least a few hours in the refrigerator).
- Next morning, take the dough out on to a floured surface and roll it out to a ½ inch thickness.
- Cut out 3-3.5 inch diameter doughnuts with a doughnut cutter - or use a large and small biscuit or cookie cutter.
- Place the doughnuts and doughnut holes on a parchment paper. Knead the left over dough lightly and let it rest for about 30 minutes, and repeat rolling and cutting once more.
- Cover the cut doughnuts and doughnut holes with plastic wrap and let them rise for about 1 hour (see tips in the post to check if the doughnuts are proofed properly).
- Heat a good amount of oil or shortening (the doughnut needs to float at least 2 inches above the bottom of the pan) in a heavy bottomed pan.
- When the oil is heated to 375°F/190°C, carefully drop in a doughnut. After 30 - 45 seconds, check to see if the doughnut has turned a golden brown. If it has, flip it over. If it hasn't, leave it for a few seconds longer and then flip it over (the doughnut will darken as they cool down, so be careful not to let it darken too much while frying).
- Transfer the doughnut to a wire rack to let it cool.
- To glaze, place a doughnut in the prepared glaze and turn to coat it completely. Then keep it on a wire rack to let the excess glaze drip. Sprinkle with funfetti or sprinkles if you like, before the glaze sets.
For the Glaze
- Sift the icing sugar, add vanilla and whisk in the milk or water - 1 tbsp at a time, until you get a pourable consistency. Add colouring if you like.
- Make more as needed.
Recipe Notes
Storage - Doughnuts are best eaten on the same day, or the next day, refrigerated.
If you have too many doughnuts, freeze them individually, then thaw them out later when ready to eat.
Activating Yeast - If I know my active dry yeast is fresh, I add it directly to the dough. However, if you are unsure whether your active dry yeast is fresh, you can activate it first.
- Place the 1/2 cup of lukewarm water in a bowl and stir in half of the sugar (2 tbsp). Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let it sit for about 10 - 15 minutes until it's frothy and bubbly. Add this to the flour and proceed with the recipe.
You can use this dough to make your favorite doughnuts. Like these Simpsons donuts, or blueberry cardamom doughnuts, or coffee doughnuts filled with white chocolate creme patisserie!
I have other favorite ways to prepare doughnuts too! Maple bacon bars (with bacon and maple glaze, lemon meringue dougnuts, chocolate truffle doughnuts (with Lindt truffles inside), Nutella stuffed caramel doughnuts (Nutella inside, caramel outside!), and so many more flavors. SO STAY TUNED TO GET ALL THESE RECIPES! 🙂
If you liked this tutorial on how to make perfect doughnuts with vanilla glaze (perfect donuts) and this comprehensive troubleshooting tutorial, don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, TWITTER,INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
Steps 8 now nine confuse me, are you supposed to let it proof at room temp for an hour then proof again in the fridge overnight? Or are steps 8/9 interchangeable
Also do you wait for the dough to warm up before rolling it out? Thanks Dan
Hi Dan
Thank you for the question, I have re-worded step 8. You can choose to either proof it twice (once at room temperature, and once in the fridge), or a longer proofing time in the fridge. It will be easier to roll out the dough while it’s cold, because warmer dough might be sticker to handle.
Hope that helps!
Can’t wait to try this recipe. my question is, what oil do you recommend for frying? I would think different oils would make differences in flavor. Thank You.
Hi Floyd
I use vegetable shortening, or vegetable oil or peanut oil for frying doughnuts. Whichever one of these I have at hand. These oils don’t really add any flavor to the doughnut either.
I hope that helps!
Is the water and milk used to proof the yeast or is it used in addition to the yeast mixture? I’m a little confused. Trying these today, I will let you know the results. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Brenda,
I don’t activate the yeast separately, if I already know it’s fresh. I add it straight into the bowl with the flour and all the other ingredients, which is what’s instructed in this recipe. However, if you want to make sure your yeast is still active, or if you suspect your yeast maybe too old, then I recommend activating it first. You can do so by mixing the 1/2 cup of lukewarm water and half of the sugar in a bowl, and stirring in the yeast, and allowing it to stand for a few minutes.
Please refer to the recipe notes, as I have now included a note on activating the yeast. This is NOT in addition to the ingredients listed in the recipe.
I Hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck and I hope you like them! 🙂
Hi, if I put the dough straight away in the fridge, you wrote “at least” 8 hours, is there a maximum time so as not to get an over-proofed dough? Or is the risk of over proofing only in the second proofing (after cutting)?
Hi Carrie!
I’ve kept the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours. The chances of the dough over-proofing in that time in the fridge are very low, especially since all the air is going to be knocked out before cutting the dough into shapes. But as you said, there is a chance of the dough over-proofing during the second rise, so it’s important to keep an eye on them then. Hope that helps!
Hi, could you tell me how many cups is 500 g of flour is? Thank you.
Hi Grace!
1 US Cup of flour is about 125g (using the spoon and level method). 500 g is about 4 US cups, measured with the spoon and level method.
hello, this recipe turned out really great. The donuts were poofy but they got a bit dense later on. Can you tell me why? because i cant figure out a reason everything went according to instructions and i was so happy to see them rise while the fried. But i dont know why they got a bit dense afterwards.
and also can you please tell me amount of eggs to be used if this recipe was taken in half.
thank you.
Hi Sady,
That’s never happened to me, so I’m not sure what would have happened. Can you let me know how long after, that they felt dense? Was it dense or stale? Were the doughnuts glazed or plain?
Another option is to remove the egg yolk and replace it with 1 – 2 tbsp of water instead, but I’m not sure if it will make a difference, as I haven’t experienced this before.
As for halving the recipe, I haven’t halved the recipe to test the results. This recipe is the smallest batch that I usually make. I would recommend weighing the amount of eggs you would use for a full recipe (1 egg and yolk, OR 1 egg), and halving that amount by weight.
Hope that helps!
Can this dough be frozen?
Hi John,
I haven’t tried to freeze the doughnut dough before so I cannot be sure unfortunately. I prefer to freeze the fried doughnuts (without the glaze) instead, and allow them to thaw out before being glazed and eaten.
Hi,
Is it ok for doughnuts to smell very alcoholy after taking out of the fridge? Also, the dough sank in the middle, like a cake would, not sure if it’s a problem or an indication that I did something wrong.
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi D!
Usually the alcohol smell and the sunken middle indicate that the dough has over-proofed during the first rise, and too much air has accumulated in the overnight rise too. Were you able to release the air from the dough after the first rise?
This has happened to me too when my dough rises too much during the first rise (especially when the weather is really warm). I usually let it rise for about 30 – 40 minutes only when the weather is warm, and then I release the air in the dough and refrigerate overnight. You could still make doughnuts with over-proofed dough, but the yeast flavor would be more prominent.
I hope that helps!
Yes, I guess it was over-proofed the first rise, I let it rise in the oven for an hour and didn’t check during and it was risen quite a lot when I took it to the fridge. But I thought that was good as it was doubled in size, not sure when to stop proofing at this point. I was not sure what it means releasing the air from the dough, does that mean only to move the dough or knead it? Also, how can I prevent too much air accumulating during overnight rise? Sorry, I have some experience with yeast but these things never happened before and thanks a lot for your answers 🙂
And yes, taste was still good but would like to do it in the correct way next time, I am sure I can see the difference 🙂
I’m so glad the taste was still ok! 🙂 If you use the oven to proof the dough, it usually will proof faster than at room temperature. To release the air, all you have to do is press the dough gently to remove the air in the dough. This will prevent too much air from accumulating overnight 🙂
Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out D!
Thanks a lot for your answers, will do another try soon 🙂
this recipe os one of a kind i tried it myself but left the dough to prove for an hr and after carefully following the method the result id say was worth it.ive been looking for a good donut recipe for long now and im glad ive found one.Thank you so much Dini for this
Thanks so much for letting me know SD! I’m so glad you liked this recipe! 🙂
Sorry for the randomness, but are you Dinali from SHS?
This recipe looks promising, must try! I’ve been overworking myself in the kitchen the last two days so made a decision to undertake bonus baking activities only once a week from now on. Till next time!
Hi Tanya, that’s totally fine, and no, I’m not 🙂 And thanks so much, do let me know if you give this recipe a try! 🙂
Anything that can be substituted for eggs?
Hi Maggie!
I haven’t made these doughnuts without eggs before, so it’s hard for me to recommend a fool-proof substitute. I have used 1/4 cup of pureed apple instead of 1 egg for certain cake recipes with success, but I’m not sure if it will work for these doughnuts, as these are fried and not baked. You could use an egg replacement product like this, and hopefully it may work!
I hope that helps!
looking forward to trying this.
One q tho, what effect would it have on the donuts if I substitute the sugar for brown sugar .Tnx
Hi Lydia!
Since brown sugar has a higher moisture content than white sugar, you may have to reduce the amount of water you add to the dough. My advice would be to add half of the water first, and add the rest a tbsp at a time, IF the dough needs more liquid. You can still add all of the water too, but the dough might be stickier than usual then. There will of course be a difference in taste as well, because the brown sugar will add a slight molassy taste (depending on whether you use dark or light brown sugar) which will be really nice.
I hope that helps! 🙂 I would love to know how they came out too.
Cheers,
Dini
I absolutely love this recipe! I think it’s a genius idea to let the dough rise overnight in the fridge I found it very helpful. I have a Q about letting the donuts rise after they’ve been rolled and cut. I accidentally over proved them and found it difficult to peel them away from the pan to fry them. Is there any way to fix them if they’ve been over proved? (I managed to get them off of the pan and into the pot and they turned out really well in everything but the shape.) I don’t make donuts often but when I do, I find that frying them is the best way to go. If you’re going to eat sweet, I say go all out. Loved how straight forward you were for this recipe, most definitely subscribing! 😉
Hi Khaela!
Thank you so much and I’m so glad that you did give this recipe a go.
Unfortunately, if the dough overproofs after it has been cut, there’s not much you can do.
You can leave the cut dough out for 5 -10 minutes, uncovered, so that the cut donuts form a “skin” as they dry out, which can make it slightly easier to pick up.
The other option is to re-knead the dough, let it rest, and cut it again.
And I absolutely agree with you. If I am going to have a donut, make it a classic fried one for me too! 😉
Hi!
Recipe looks straightforward, and it’s the 4th one I’m about to try, so fingers crossed! Quick Q though, do you activate the yeast in milk and/or water first? I can’t see it in the written recipe (sorry if it’s there ) but it’s in the video, so wasn’t sure if was an oversight, or an unecessary step that you’ve eliminated from the process?
Thanks!
Hi Ali!
If I know the yeast is fresh, I don’t always need to activate it. I do that as a precaution to make sure the yeast is still active 🙂 It’s a good idea to activate the yeast, if you’re not entirely sure. Thank you for pointing that out! I will add it as a note to the recipe!
Hello. I can’t take fried food. Can these doughnuts be baked instead?
Hi! Unfortunately I haven’t tried to bake these doughnuts. Usually if yeasted doughnuts are baked, the texture of the doughnuts change to a more bready texture. There are baked cake doughnut recipes that you could try as well like this one – http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/baked-doughnuts-three-ways-recipe
I hope that helps!
Thank you so much. I might just try baking these doughnuts and see how it goes.
Yes there is such a thing as baked donuts (AKA cake donuts but I suggest looking for a specific recipe that says cake donuts because the recipe will have to be changed for them to be baked
I hope this helped 🙂
Hello! You gave all the precise weights/measures, but not for the butter. How much is in grams, please?
Hi Cecilia, 4 tbsp of butter = 58g. Thank you for pointing that out. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Thanks so much!
All the tips here are spot on. Solid info backed by someone who has done their homework. The only ingredient missing is diastic malt powder, which takes doughnuts to the next level.
Hello! Do you want to give a little more information, please?
Dini, what marvelous tips! I love making donuts but don’t make them often enough to really master them (every few years, really!) so now I can see it will be easier to pull them off!
Mollie
Love this posts Dini, super good tips and they look amazing. I need to try this soon myself. Thanks so much for sharing this one!
Dini- fantastic tutorial!
I have been intimidated by donuts but this really helped!
Maybe I’ll muster up the courage to try!
Thanks for hosting and have a great weekend!
Michelle
100% donut perfection. I’m going to have to read this post in stages, a little at a time, to prevent myself from eating my computer.
You are right on the money when you say that fried is better. I know that everyone wants healthy, gluten free, baked versions but I say that doughnuts are a splurge and if you are going to cheat, go big! I want a fluffy, fried, doughnut with a lot of glaze! Thanks for a great tutorial. I might actually attempt to make these:)
Thank you J! 🙂 I get eating baked doughnuts – but if I want to cheat with a proper doughnut, I go big with a fried one 😀
These are so worth it! You definitely need to try them!
Wow, you made great effort testing and analyzing results, 2 qs here, did you say there is a video for that or am I dreaming? Then how about mixing by hand or with basic mixer, not a pro one, will it work the same or not? Pinned
Hi Farida!
Thank you! 🙂 Yes! there is a video! I had a few issues with uploading it but it’s now on the blog!
It would definitely be better to use your hands or a manual dough whisk to mix the dough because it is a fairly sticky and soft dough. You can use a basic mixer, if the motor is powerful enough for mixing dough (My hand mixer isn’t powerful to knead dough 🙁 )
I see , I guess I need to test my hand, thank you!
Oh my goodness these little donuts are so spongy, tender, perfectly glazed. Okay, tell us the truth how many donuts did you need to test?! LOL I don’t think my family would have even waited for me to get a shot before these little guys were inhaled. Sharing everywhere!
Thank you Bobbi! 🙂 Let’s not reveal the number of doughnuts I had to go through 😉 hahaha!! I’ve never seen my husband so happy to have doughnuts in the freezer! Thank you again! <3