I’ve been craving doughnuts lately. Not the glazed kind, I’m not the biggest fan of those, but rather ones covered in cinnamon sugar. Those are my favorite.
This recipe is from Lara Ferroni’s cookbook, Doughnuts. I absolutely love it. It’s beautiful, filled with Lara’s gorgeous photography, and every single recipe sounds like heaven. It’s well written, easy to understand, I love when recipe writers tell you things like “dough will be soft and moist, but not overly sticky”. That is so helpful when you’re making something new. I can’t say enough good things about it about this cookbook.
This is her baked doughnut recipe. While I wanted doughnuts, I didn’t want to fry anything. It’s messy and I just wasn’t feeling it. I’d never had baked doughnuts before, so I decided to give it a try.
These are beyond delicious. Soft and fluffy, and I bet if you glazed them, you wouldn’t even know they were baked instead of fried. Also, this is the easiest doughnut recipe I have ever used. It came together in no time.
Baked Doughnuts
From Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni
makes 10-14 doughnuts
a note: I don’t have a doughnut cutter or even a cookie cutter (i know, what is wrong with me?) so I used a mason jar lid and a shot glass to cut out my doughnut shapes. It worked perfectly!
1 egg
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 cup whole milk, heated to 115F
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided, plus more for kneading
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
for topping:
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup superfine sugar + 2 tablespoons cinnamon (more or less, depending on your taste), mixed together
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg and sugar on medium speed until blended, about 1 minute. Add the milk, yeast, salt and vanilla, and stir to blend. With the machine on low speed, add 2 cups of flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, and beat until the dough is thick and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Switch to the dough hook. With the machine on medium speed, add the butter one piece at a time, and beat until no large chunks of butter are left in the bottom of the bowl, 3-5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the additional flour until the dough gathers around the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. It will be soft and moist, but not overly sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Lightly grease a large mixing bowl.
Transfer the dough to the bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Punch down the dough and roll out to 1/2 inch thick. With a doughnut or a cookie cutter, cut out 3 inch diameter rounds with 1 inch diameter holes.
Preheat the oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the doughnuts at least 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm spot until nearly doubled in size, about 20 minutes.
Bake until the doughnuts are light golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes, being very careful not to overbake them.
Immediately out of the oven, dip into butter, then directly into cinnamon sugar mixture.
Best eaten fresh and warm.
