Sourdough Donuts Recipes

SOURDOUGH DONUTS

Steps:

• Prepare a frying pan with enough oil to fry in, and allow it to reach about 360 degrees.
• Line a plate with paper towels and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
• In a large bowl whisk together the starter, oil, egg, and milk.
• Mix the wet and dry ingredients together, until they just come together.
• Sprinkle some flour on your counter and dump the dough out of the bowl. Knead it gently 3 or 4 times until the dough comes together.
• Sprinkle the top of the dough with a tiny bit of flour and roll out until it is 2″ thick.
• Cut your donuts out, reforming the dough back together as often as you need to.
• Fry until golden brown, just a minute or two on each side.
• Drain/dry on the paper towels, and then coat as you see fit - powdered sugar, cinnamon and sugar, or glazed.
• Enjoy!!

SOURDOUGH DOUGHNUTS RECIPE

Steps:

• Start by feeding the sourdough starter: Use active sourdough starter. Starter should be ripe. Use a rubber band to mark your starter after feeding, and observe when it reaches its peak. (Once it begins to decline, it starts getting sour, use it before that point)
• Preparing the dough: Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add room temperature whole milk. Now add the ripe sourdough starter and mix well in the milk to form a smooth paste. Add the sugar and mix well. Further add in the vanilla extract, salt, and melted butter. Mix everything well. If you are going to add some nutmeg, go ahead and add some. Now add the flour. Combine with the help of a ladle or a fork.
• Kneading the dough: Now place the bowl on the stand mixer, and start kneading at low speed for 6-7 minutes. It will look super sticky initially. Now, bump up the speed, and knead for additional 6-7 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and supple. It should leave the sides of the bowl completely. If it does not comes together and you feel that the dough is still very sticky, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and knead again.
• Bulk rise: Transfer the dough to a greased bowl with enough room for it to rise. Cover with a cling wrap or kitchen towel and let it bulk rise at 70-85 0 F for 2 hours. Now place the bowl in a refrigerator for cold retarding the dough. Cold proof it for 8- 12 hours. It makes the dough much easier to roll and shape.
• Rolling the dough and shaping the Doughnuts: Remove the dough onto a flour-dusted work surface. Gather the sides and make a roundish ball. Now use your hands to flatten it. Switch to a rolling pin and start rolling the dough into a 1/2 inch thick layer. Keep dusting some flour under it occasionally, so that it does not stick. Now cut the Doughnuts using a cookie cutter or a donut cutter. Use the smallest cookie cutter to make the central hole.Carefully lift the Doughnuts and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Also transfer the sourdough donut holes, as we are going to fry them as well to make the hole donuts. A pro tip: dust a little flour on the parchment paper before placing the doughnuts, as it will prevent them from sticking to the parchment paper when proofing.Gather the leftover dough and repeat the process, cut more Doughnuts and keep repeating until the entire dough is depleted. This recipe will make about 24 medium sized donuts.
• Proofing the Doughnuts: Cover these sourdough doughnuts with a kitchen towel, and let them proof till they become puffier. It should take about 1 hour or longer if your kitchen is cooler. (Refer to the process image to see how much rise we need.)
• Frying: In a pan heat vegetable oil deep enough to fry the sourdough doughnuts. The oil temperature should be around 320-330 0F. Gently lift the doughnuts and drop them into the oil.Doughnuts should take about 2-3 minutes to cook from one side. Then, gently flip them and cook on the other side for the same time. Do not let them brown too much as the crust will become hard. Look for the golden brown color.If the oil is too hot, the donuts will brown from the outside much faster and reman raw from the center. So, do check your oil temperature.When done, gently remove from oil and transfer to a plate lined with tissue paper, and continue with the rest of the doughnuts.Donut holes will fry much faster than the bigger donuts.
• Topping or dressing: If you are planning to just coat them in cinnamon sugar like me, so drop them into the sugar-cinnamon when they are right out of the oil. Sugar sticks better that way. But if you are planning to glaze them, transfer to a plate lined with tissues and let them cool a bit before glazing them or coating with chocolate, etc. ( Refer to the notes for my fav. glaze recipe)
• Eat, share, and store.

SOURDOUGH DOUGHNUTS RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of water, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup bread flour, and the active starter until well incorporated. The mixture will be dry and you may need to remove it from the bowl and use your hands to mix. Scrape the sides of the bowl and form a dough ball. Cover and allow to autolyse (rest) for 1 hour.
• Heat the milk, butter, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat just until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Allow the mixture to cool to 85 F.
• Transfer the dough ball to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
• With the mixer running on low, slowly add the milk mixture to the flour mixture.
• Add the eggs one at a time. Slowly add the remaining 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup bread flour.
• Once incorporated, raise the speed to medium-high and knead until the dough comes together fully, about 8 minutes. Scrape the excess dough from the dough hook and knead on a clean surface until the dough is only slightly sticky. You may need to add more flour, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time.
• Once the dough is only slightly sticky and smooth, transfer to a clean and greased bowl and allow the dough to rest, covered for 30 minutes.
• Add the salt and remaining 2 tablespoons of water, then mix on medium speed with the dough hook for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is soft.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and continue to knead, adding more flour when necessary, until the dough is smooth.
• Form into a ball and let it rest in a greased bowl, covered, for about 5 hours. The dough should increase in size dramatically, about double. At this point, you can continue to the next step or cover the dough with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and place in the fridge overnight.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness.
• Cut out the doughnuts using round cookie cutters or a doughnut cutter and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between to allow for rising. Re-roll any remaining dough and repeat until you've cut all of the dough into donuts.
• Cover with lightly damp kitchen towels and allow to rise until doubled in size and puffed and the dough springs back when touched, about 3 hours. At this point, you can continue to the next step or cover the doughnuts with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and place in the fridge overnight.
• When the doughnuts are ready to be fried , heat about 2 inches of oil in a large cast-iron pan or Dutch oven until it reaches 360 F on a thermometer .
• Once the oil is hot, fry them in batches of 3 or 4 until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side and about 30 seconds per side on the donut holes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.
• Let the donuts cool slightly, then dip both sides in a hot glaze or toss in cinnamon sugar and transfer to a serving dish. Serve immediately.