Home-made donuts

Whilst the kids usually like to help in the kitchen, this was one recipe I decided to make by myself as I had a craving for donuts and I had a recipe scribbled down in the cupboard which I wanted to try out. So whilst the boys were at school one day and Miss T was having her nap, I made a big batch of donut dough.

The dough after the first proving - it has grown huge!

Just like when we made iced-buns, this is one of those recipes that seems to take forever because you need to prove the dough twice. But it is worth it as it makes some yummy donuts that you just want to eat straight away!

Ingredients:
40g butter
500g strong plain bread flour
2 sachets of yeast (they are 7g each so 14g altogether)
250g caster sugar
125ml milk
100ml boiling water
2 eggs
rapeseed oil for frying
ground cinnamon
Jam for filling if desired

Method:
1. Rub the butter into the flour and then add in the yeast and 50g of the sugar. Mix the milk and boiling water together to make a tepid temperature mixture. Add it into the flour and add in the 2 eggs and mix well.

2. Gather to a dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface to knead. Knead for a good ten minutes until it is stretchy and elastic.

3. Pop it into a greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and put in a warm place for an hour or so until doubled in size.

4. Knock-back the dough by giving it another little knead. Then divide into 16 pieces and place onto greased baking trays. Cover with cling film and leave again in a warm place to rise again until doubled in size (45 minutes to an hour).

5. I don't have a deep fat fryer so I just use a saucepan and fill it with as little oil as I can get away with and just turning the donuts to brown them on all sides. They take about 5 minutes on each side.

6. I drained them on kitchen paper and then rolled into the sugar (having sprinkled some cinnamon into the sugar first).

They tasted really fabulous and I just wanted to eat them all in one go as they were so warm and moreish. We tried filling one with jam but decided they tasted great without so didn't bother with the rest.

The only downside to this recipe is that is does seem to take such a long time to make and I never like to deep fry food when the kids are around. Next time we might try the baked donut recipe we saw on The Brick Castle. If they turn out well and taste like real donuts rather than cakes, then that might be the recipe to stick with, as they are a lot quicker to make and don't need frying.

Although on this occasion, Miss T didn't help with the cooking, she was all too happy to help with the eating.