From our perspective, there are only two types of doughnuts: the doughy, yeasty Krispy-Kreme style doughnut, and the cakey, dunk-me-in-coffe style doughnut. We have a soft spot for one, and a hard…err…spot for the other. Both are wonderful, and rest assured, there will be a post on the other style soon enough, but we’re feeling a bit saucy this morning, so sexy it is!
A lip-licking lust is associated with the type of glazed doughnut that Krispy Kreme has purveyed for over 70 years, and when reviewed for its value on a primal level, it’s easy to see why. Evolution has incentivized us to consume as much fat and sugar as we can by making it incredibly pleasurable to do so (by way of releasing serotonin, the chemical that allows you to experience pleasure, and the chemical your brain “rewards” you with for doing something that is supposedly to your advantage, and is the antithesis of pain, which is designed to deter you from doing things harmful to your body). The oil and fat, sugar, and carbohydrates (thinly disguised sugar) in doughnuts are therefore serotonin-overload vehicles, and consuming them makes us humans immediately happy.
Our version takes the form of a sultry sourdough, whose fermenting engenders a deepening of flavor that accentuates the richness of the doughnut and imparts a subtle piquancy.
Note: this is the very same recipe we use for one of our sourdough loaves! The seemingly drastic difference between the two is in how they are cooked. One is baked in the oven, while the other is deep fried (which of course adds oil to the crumb).
4 c all-purpose flour
0.5 c sourdough starter
(if you don’t access to any, don’t fear and stay tuned for our next post)
1.5 c warm water
(if you don’t have a sourdough starter, use 1.75 c of water, it’s still worth making)
0.75 TBS salt
0.75 TBS yeast
Oil for frying; enough to fill a pot or pan with about 2 inches of oil (canola oil, peanut oil, even olive oil will be fine)
Glaze in next post
Mix all dry ingredients together first to ensure that the salt and yeast are evenly distributed, then mix in the sourdough starter. Add the warm water to the bowl and mix until there are not lumps of dry flour. Form the dough together into a ball and with a little butter or oil, grease the bowl and the dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it to rise until it has doubled in volume.
Once doubled, divide the dough into even-sized pieces and form each into a torus (the geometric shape that describes the shape of doughnuts and pipes). You can decide how large to make each for yourself, but note that they will nearly double in volume when fried. To do this, you can simply form each piece into and ball and then tear a hole in the center with your finger, making sure to hook a finger from each hand through the center and pulling the dough until the hole has enlarged and the doughnut is evenly shaped. Place the doughnut-shaped dough on a floured sheet pan and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let them rise until about doubled.
After the dough has nearly doubled in size, fill a pot or pan with about 2 inches of oil and heat on medium high heat until it has reached 375ºF. If you do not have a way to determine the temperature of your oil, tear off a small piece of bread and drop it in the oil. The oil should bubble rapidly, and the bread should brown within about 5-10 seconds of being dropped in. Remove with a metal spoon that has some kind of drainage built it, be it slotted or holed. Prepare a sheet pan lined with paper towels—this is where you will place your freshly-fried doughnuts.
When the oil is hot enough, place no more than two doughnuts in at the same time (and only one if you are using a small pot/pan). The dough should float on the oil, if not, it has not risen enough. Unless you have a large pot and a lot of oil, more than two doughnuts will cool the oil too much, and they will have to spend too much time in the oil and absorb too much of it. Once the oil-facing side has turned a light golden brown, flip the doughnut over and cook the other side—this will take less time, so pay close attention. Remove the cooked doughnuts with a metal spoon and place them on the sheet pan lined with paper towels. If you chose to powder them, do so right away by preparing a bowl of powered sugar large enough to fit your doughnut, and drop the still-hot doughnuts in. Flip to coat the other side. If you chose to glaze them, let them cool completely, otherwise they will melt the glaze off.
Glaze in next post…
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