Doughnut making with Blake

This is my son Blake, and he is 10 years old. For this week of baking with my kids, Blake chose doughnuts. This recipe came from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. The description in the book said that these were almost exactly like Krispy Kreme. She was completely right. They taste just like them. The only problem that Blake and I ran into was that this dough was really, really sticky. I used the 5 cups of flour and then needed more. So, alot of our doughnuts looked like fritters and not round. Actually, only 2 or 3 ended up round! But that was ok, they still tasted great and we will try them again.

Mixing the ingredients, before putting on the dough hook...

Oh, and how could I forget this part. Our dough did not rise! I am not sure if my yeast was old or what..but no rising action here with the dough. Oh well, we deep fried them anyways..

After frying them, drain them and then dip them in the butter glaze and you have this...

The verdict? Very good! They didn't last long!

Homemade Franchise-Style Doughnuts

Dough:

1/4 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)

2 Tbsp rapid-rise yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup shortening

5 cups, approximately, all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil or shortening, for frying

In a mixer bowl, hand-whisk warm water and yeast together and let stand 2-3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Briskly whisk in milk, sugar, salt, and eggs and blend. Add shortening and most of flour and blend. Then knead with a dough hook on low speed only until smooth (it is not necessary to knead this dough a long time.)

Remove dough hook and spray dough lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Cover entire mixer and bowl with a large clear plastic bag. Let dough rise 50-60 minutes or until almost doubled. Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness and , using a doughnut cutter,cut into doughnuts. Cover doughnuts loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 20-40 minutes.

Heat vegetable oil or shortening in a fryer (or wok) to 350 degrees F. Slide in doughnuts, a few at a time, and fry about 1 minute per side. Remove from oil onto a wire rack set over parchment paper.

Creamy Butter Glaze:

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

4-6 Tbsp hot water

1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted, optional

For Creamy Butter Glaze:

Melt butter and then whisk it in a medium bowl with powdered sugar,vanilla, and hot water. Smear doughnuts in glaze.

For Chocolate Glaze, if desired, add 1 ounce melted chocolate to one entire recipe of Butter Glaze. Smear doughnuts in chocolate glaze.