Michele and I have played around a couple of times trying to get a good donut recipe.
our first attempt was a total let down. we made the dough the night before, let it rise and then sit overnight, then in the morning we painstakingly shaped the dough into donuts and fried them in hot oil. shaping them wasn't the hard part, but getting them to keep their shape while transferring them into the oil was the tricky thing. it almost seemed pointless to have let them rise because they deflated as soon as we started handling them. all of this might still have been worth it if the donuts had lived up to their word. but they didn't. they were definitely not cake donuts. they were very airy. not only that but they tasted more yeasty than sweet. dousing them in sugar and lemon curd helped but really they were a let down.
attempt #2, we found a recipe that didn't take overnight to rise so we figured it wouldn't be such a let down if it didn't turn out. the donuts were much better. the dough was sticky and hard to handle like the last batch, but it was a cakey dough, and was sweet and nutmeggy (that's probably not a word). I had a really hard time with the oil though this time around. I couldn't get it to stay at the right temperature, it either was much too hot, or else not hot enough. a lot of the donuts ended up burnt. it seemed like buying donuts from the corner was worth it, when compared to the trouble and mess that didn't leave us with lovely donuts.
For my birthday Michele bought me a donut pan from Sur La Table. it had 6 donut molds and a recipe on the back. i tried it this morning with success! the dough was simple and delicious, and I was thrilled to not have to handle the dough into hot oil. Instead i just had to scoop some dough in the molds, pop them in the oven then seven minutes later voila!
our first attempt was a total let down. we made the dough the night before, let it rise and then sit overnight, then in the morning we painstakingly shaped the dough into donuts and fried them in hot oil. shaping them wasn't the hard part, but getting them to keep their shape while transferring them into the oil was the tricky thing. it almost seemed pointless to have let them rise because they deflated as soon as we started handling them. all of this might still have been worth it if the donuts had lived up to their word. but they didn't. they were definitely not cake donuts. they were very airy. not only that but they tasted more yeasty than sweet. dousing them in sugar and lemon curd helped but really they were a let down.
attempt #2, we found a recipe that didn't take overnight to rise so we figured it wouldn't be such a let down if it didn't turn out. the donuts were much better. the dough was sticky and hard to handle like the last batch, but it was a cakey dough, and was sweet and nutmeggy (that's probably not a word). I had a really hard time with the oil though this time around. I couldn't get it to stay at the right temperature, it either was much too hot, or else not hot enough. a lot of the donuts ended up burnt. it seemed like buying donuts from the corner was worth it, when compared to the trouble and mess that didn't leave us with lovely donuts.
For my birthday Michele bought me a donut pan from Sur La Table. it had 6 donut molds and a recipe on the back. i tried it this morning with success! the dough was simple and delicious, and I was thrilled to not have to handle the dough into hot oil. Instead i just had to scoop some dough in the molds, pop them in the oven then seven minutes later voila!
I had some food critics taste test them for me
they were chocolate covered by the end and asking for seconds. so i think this one was a success.
4 comments:
Enough damage has been done to my waistline with Michele's bread recipe. Heaven help me if I try donuts.
Looks dang good!
Wow...looks delish!...I guess "Dang Good Donuts" is ready for business!
Yummy looking donuts and those food critics look happyl
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