A detailed, step by step recipe and troubleshooting guide with a recipe video on how to make doughnuts with a vanilla glaze!
Deliciously fluffy and airy on the inside and tender on the outside, these homemade doughnuts (homemade donuts) with a sweet glaze are an absolute treat!
Perfect homemade 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.
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 flavor and texture.
I made doughnuts for the blog for the first time when I made these Simpsons doughnuts, a while back. Since then, I’ve also shared these delicious blueberry glazed doughnuts, coffee doughnuts (with a caramelized white chocolate filling), and even these fun mini unicorn rainbow doughnuts!
But here’s the holy grail of doughnut recipes, the basic how to make doughnuts troubleshooting recipe and guide.
How to make doughnuts (troubleshooting tutorial)
Flavor
These doughnuts (donuts) are made with 1 tbsp of active 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 flavor that we all love.
The overnight rise is preferable for developing flavor. Much like my favorite pizza dough, the cold rise of any yeasted dough lends characteristic flavor 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 flavor 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 flavor 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.
How to know 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 recipe video below) – 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 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 the perfect 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
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How to make perfect glazed doughnuts + doughnut troubleshooting (Perfect Donuts)
Ingredients:
Dough for the Doughnuts
- 500 g AP flour approximately 4 cups, spoon and leveled
- 120 mL lukewarm water ½ cup
- 120 mL lukewarm milk ½ cup
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 large egg
- 1 large yolk
- 50 g sugar ¼ cup
- 115 g butter 1 stick / ½ cup. Softened
- ½ tsp sea salt
- Oil or shortening for deep frying
Glaze
- 226 g icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar approximately 2 cups, spooned and leveled
- 80 – 100 ml whole milk about ⅓ cup
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions:
Doughnut Dough
- Dissolve about 1 tsp of sugar in lukewarm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and stir to combine. Set aside for 10 – 15 minutes to activate the yeast. The yeast should become frothy when activated.120 mL lukewarm water, 1 tbsp active dry yeast, 50 g sugar
- Add the activated yeast into the mixing bowl, along with the rest of the sugar, milk, egg and yolk.120 mL lukewarm milk, 1 large egg, 1 large yolk, 50 g sugar
- Set aside about ¼ cup of the flour and place the rest in the mixing bowl with the other ingredients. Finally add the salt.500 g AP flour, ½ tsp sea salt
- Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment or kneading hook on your mixer, until the mix comes together. You can also use a spatula for this as well.
- If you used the paddle mix, switch to the dough hook and start kneading the dough for about 5 minutes.
- Add the softened butter (½ – 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. The dough should be tacky and soft.115 g butter
- Knead the dough for about 5 – 7 minutes until you have a soft, shiny, slightly tacky dough. Check if the dough is kneaded well with the window pane test.
- 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 hours upto 24 hours, and continue from step 10).
- If you allowed the dough to rise at room temperature – gently release the air in the dough.
- OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED – Reshape the dough, and place it in the bowl again for an overnight proof in the fridge. This helps develop the flavors of the dough better and the dough is also easier to handle when chilled. The nxt morning you can remove the dough from the bowl and proceed with the recipe. If you want to skip the overnight proof, then skip this step.
- Place the dough out on to a floured surface and roll it out to a ½ inch thickness.
- With a 3 to 3.5 inch diameter cookie cutter / donut cutter, cut out the donuts from the dough. Use a smaller cookie cutter to punch out the center whole.
- Place the donuts and donut holes on a parchment paper lined baking tray and cover with plastic wrap or towel.
- Knead the left over dough lightly and let it rest for about 30 minutes, and repeat rolling and cutting once more.
- Cover the cut donuts and donut holes with plastic wrap and let them rise for about 1 hour or until proofed properly. (see tips in the post to check if the doughnuts are proofed properly).
- Heat a good amount of oil or shortening (the donut needs to float at least 2 inches above the bottom of the pan) in a heavy bottomed pan.Oil or shortening
- When the oil is heated to 375°F/190°C, carefully drop in a doughnut. After 30 – 45 seconds, check to see if the donut 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). If the donuts brown too quickly, lower the heat of your stove.
- Transfer the donut to a wire rack to let it cool.
- To glaze, place a donut 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 coloring if you like.226 g icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 80 – 100 ml whole milk
- Make more as needed.
Tips & Tricks
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.
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
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, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, YOU TUBE and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
deepthi anand says
Hii..I love the way u have explained. I made donuts from another recipe today. After reading ur procedure I realised may be I overpriced the dough.but I stil have my question unanswered.after the first proofing, the dough is so soft and slightly sticky, do I flour the surface on which I’m gonna do the cut outs, or butter the surface???? And also the parchment paper on which I’m gonna place these cut-outs on,do I flour or oil them?? Because when I try to remove them from the surface or the parchment paper,they r so soft that they have my finger Mark’s on them and they reshape or most probably stick to the surface. I dont know how to remove them from the surface easily. Il be really glad if I find an answer for this.
Dini says
Hi Deepthi
It’s hard for me to be 100% sure on the technique without knowing the recipe that you used, so my answers are based on my recipe.
I flour the surface that I will be rolling and cutting the dough. Using butter will make it stickier and harder to work with because the dough is already an enriched dough.
Since parchment paper is non stick, I don’t flour them when I place the doughnuts. However, if you feel like you would like the additional failsafe, you can lightly dust the parchment paper if you like.
If you find it hard to lift the doughnuts from the parchment paper, then you can cut the parchment paper around the doughnut, and lift the doughnut using the parchment paper underneath and place the doughnut in the oil WITH the parchment still attached. Once it starts to fry you can gently peel off the parchment paper from the doughnut.
I hope that helps
Nad says
Hello! I don’t have active dry yest at the moment…can i substitute with instant yeast? if yes, please provide me with the correct measures to do so 🙂
thank you!
Dini says
Hi Nad
I haven’t used instant yeast unfortunately. You can either substitute it 1:1 (some packages suggest that), but reduce the proofing times. Or use about 25% less, and hopefully not need to change proofing times.
Instant yeast is more active than active dry yeast, and therefore you will need to adjust proofing times accordingly.
I hope that helps!
Christy says
I noticed my donut was hard immediately I took it out of the frier (that’s while it was still hot) but when It was a bit cool, it got softer. Please Is that normal? Or is it supposed to be soft even while hot?
Dini says
Hi Christy
Do you mean they were hard on the surface? Since donuts are fried, the outer crust does feel more “crust-like” straight out of the frier. But the whole donut shouldn’t be hard. They should be soft even when hot (although it’s a little too hot to break apart at that stage).
The only thing I can think of is that maybe the dough had too much flour – if you used cup measurements, it’s possible that you may have measured more flour than intended.
Karen says
I don’t have a deep frier. What shall I do??
Dini says
Hi Karen
I didn’t use a deep fryer for these either. I fried them in my big pot, that I filled with enough oil to fry donuts.
I hope that helps!
Okoye Austin says
Was really helpful.
I want to know why my dough keeps coming back after rolling them out. This makes it difficult to cut out equal sized doughnut
Dini says
Hi Okoye
The reason why the dough keeps coming back is because the dough has been overworked. The gluten is springing back causing the dough to shrink.
I recommend covering the dough with plastic wrap and letting it rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to relax the gluten. I like to rest mine for about 30 – 60 minutes when it’s overworked. You also need to make sure the dough isn’t sticking to the work top as you roll and before you cut the doughnuts.
Hope that helps.
S says
I put in double the butter on accident. what should I do?
Dini says
Hi S
Adding extra butter should be ok! It would probably be a richer and more stickier dough. You could also add a little extra flour to counteract the extra butter, but the dough needs to remain a little sticky so that you can have soft doughnuts.
You may need to knead the dough a little longer until it becomes nice and smooth, and I would definitely recommend chilling the dough, otherwise it would be too soft to roll out and cut into shapes. But otherwise it should still come out ok!
Hope that helps!
rita says
heyy soo my dough is kept for rising …for about an hour and half ….i dont want it to rest in the fridge for 24 cuz i wanna eat em as soon as possible so is it okie if i just fry em after the 1st rise
Dini says
Hi Rita
Yes you can. However the dough will be very soft and will be a little harder to manage. Be careful not to flour it too much as you roll it out.
The final proof before frying them, may also be short. So keep an eye on the doughnuts to check for when it’s proofed properly. (You cannot skip the final proof)
Hope that helps!
Marion says
What can I do to remedy oily donuts? Will a quick refry help or should I just squeeze out the oil using paper towels?
Dini says
Hi Marion!
With oily donuts I would recommend just leaving them on paper towels to absorb the extra oil. If you squeeze them, it can change the shape and/or texture of the donuts.
Refrying in oil at a higher heat is a technique I use with fried chicken, but I don’t know if it will work the same way with donuts.
I hope that helps!
Chandrika says
My doughnuts were hard. Why?
Dini says
Hi Chandrika
There are a few reasons why doughnuts can be hard.
The yeast wasn’t active and so the bread didn’t proof.
The bread wasn’t proofed long enough (underproofed doughnuts)
Too much flour was added and the dough was too dry.
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Dini
Mae says
I’ve tried several yeasted fried doughnut recipe and they’re all the same- hard the next day. I still have to find one that is not.
Dini says
Hi Mae
Usually donuts go hard the next day if they were not proofed properly or if the yeast isn’t active at all.
It can also happen if you add too much flour to the dough as this would make it dry. Then the donut will harden as it cools.
Youstina Bassam says
Hey
Sometimes when I’m making donuts some donuts hole collapse or like become too narrow after proofing for the second time. How can I stop that from happening?
Adeola Oladapo says
I love it so helpful
Audreyboteilho says
Portuguese Malasadas dough is made during lent, what’s your recioe
Dini says
Hi Audrey
I’m sorry but I do not have a recipe for Portuguese Malasadas. I hope you will be able to find one.
Anna Zercoe says
I was just wondering if I could put them in the fridge for 7ish hours and then let it rise on the counter for another hour or 45 ish minutes?
Dini says
Hi Anna
Can you clarify why you wanted to let it rest on the counter for another hour or 45 minutes?
The reason why I refrigerate the dough is to develop flavor, and also to chill the dough so that it is easier to work with and roll out.
If you leave it out on the counter after chilling it, then it would come to room temperature and might be stickier to work with. I recommend working with the dough while it’s chilled as it needs to be proofed one last time before being fried anyway.
Hope that helps
Monica says
Your recipe is jjjjjjjust about the same as my Grandmothers…Every Monday she’d have bread rising and laundry agitating in the washer by the time we crawled out of bed. Every 4th or 5th week she’d add donuts to her agenda…Ooooooh my goodness!!! She used to tease us…saying she couldn’t fry them fast enough to keep up with the 3 of us kids.(lol)
At the end of summer break she ALWAYS added a supply of bread, buns, & donuts from the freezer. When we got back home…each morning we would put a couple frozen donuts into the hot oven for a few 5 minutes or more… The donuts were as tasty as ever. (Sometimes the microwave just isn’t the answer…lol)
Clong says
I made this tonight after 2 failed attempts from 2 different recipes. I separated the activation of my yeast, proofed it without refrigeration but 2nd proofed it only for 30 minutes. I followed your advises about putting flour on the parchment paper and oiling or buttering the top of the donuts in the 2nd proofing. Thank you for your advises. This came out perfectly.
Shelley says
Hi there…I am attempting donuts for the first time next weekend and your article is amazing for tips and troubleshooting since I know I will need all the help I can get. I have 2 questions if you don’t mind.
1. After the first rise and before the 2nd rise in the fridge, you state to gently remove the plastic wrap to release the air…but do I recover the dough with the plastic wrap for its remaining time in the fridge?
2. I’d like to make 6 regular and 6 filled donuts…can I just use a circle cutter for both kinds or should I form the dough into large balls for the filled? Could I roll the dough thicker for the filled ones and just use a cutter or is rolling the dough better?
Dini says
Hi Shelley!
1 . The post states to gently release the air from the dough. This means to push the dough down to release any air in the dough. You can cover the bowl and keep it back in the fridge afterwards. If you want to you can reshape the dough back into a smooth ball and place it in the bowl, or keep it as it is. It’s always important to keep the bowl covered when proofing dough because otherwise the dough will form a crust which isn’t good.
2 . I prefer to cut my dough whether I make filled or regular donuts. So I would recommend cutting the dough with a circle cutter for both, but also cutting a smaller hole inside the regular donuts (if you want donuts with a hole). Do not cut holes in the donuts you want to fill after frying.
I hope this answers your questions! Let me know if you have any more questions 🙂 I would be happy to help!
Cheers,
Dini