Baked Doughnuts

Summertime is here.  We're staying up a little later and sleeping in a little longer.  That means that we can wake up and have a leisurely breakfast instead of rushing to finish breakfast by 6:30 so that the kids can get to school.

My kids are big doughnut fans - I would go so far as to say that they are doughnut connoisseurs.  I found this recipe for baked doughnuts on sotongcooks.blogpost.com and I wanted to see if I could make a baked doughnut that the kids would like just as well as their fried counterparts.  I had seen baked doughnut recipes in the past but most of them required a doughnut pan - which I don't have. This recipe looked like it was simple enough for me to make, it didn't require a quart of oil for frying, and I didn't need a special doughnut pan to make them!

Baked Doughnuts
​1 egg
¼ cup sugar
1 cup milk, heated to 115 °F
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ to 3½ cups flour, divided, plus more for kneading
1 stick butter cut into 1″ cubes

​In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the egg and sugar on medium speed for 1 minute.

​Add in the milk, yeast, salt, and vanilla.

​Turn the mixer to low, and then add in 2 cups of the flour.

​Attach the dough hook and then on medium speed, add the butter one piece at a time until smooth.

​Reduce the speed to low, and then add the rest of the flour until the dough sticks to the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be soft and moist, but not sticky.

​Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Place in a mixing bowl coated with cooking spray and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

​Punch down the dough and roll it out to about ½” thickness. With doughnut or cookie cutter, cut out 3″ circles with 1″ holes.

​Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C). On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place the doughnuts 1″ apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 20 minutes.

​Bake until light golden in color,  12 minutes. Brush with melted butter and then coat with icing sugar or glaze of your choice.

​Serve immediately. Doughnuts are best eaten while still warm.

​These doughnuts were soooooo good.  They were even better than their fried counterparts.  I am officially done with frying homemade doughnuts - from now on - it's baked for this family.  The kids loved them too.  They stayed fresher longer too because they weren't soaked in oil.  

​I think I'm ready to give Dunkin Doughnuts a run for their money with this recipe.  

​Hungry yet?

Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe