The Art of Making Doughnuts from Scratch

Once everybody's all chockfull of cream it's time to glaze. Simply dunk the top of the doughnut into our chocolate glaze and let it harden up for like 20 minutes. Then into our coated doughnuts goes a bit of seedless raspberry jam, same procedure poke a hole squeeze some stuff into it, and rejoice because look you just made doughnuts all by yourself. You have broken free of the stranglehold that big donut has had on the doughnut industry since before you were born.

These doughnuts are great they're classic yeasted doughnuts but I have a soft spot for sour cream doughnuts which have more of a crispy, crackled exterior and a moist, dense interior. We're starting by sifting together 600 grams of cake flour, one and a half tablespoons of baking powder, and two teaspoons of table salt. Simply sift that together and set aside while we combine 5 egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer, along with 250 grams of plain white sugar, and 2 and a half tablespoons of unsalted butter that we're going to cream together using the paddle attachment.

Then to this mixture, we're adding about half of our dry ingredients mixing just to combine, before adding 380 grams of sour cream. We're then beating this mixture together until everybody's well incorporated before adding the remaining dry ingredients. We're blending that together using the paddle attachment for 45 seconds to 1 minute making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl because we want everybody to thoroughly get to know each other we don't want any stragglers at this party.

This is going to leave us with a wet sticky dough that we're going to place into a bowl which we are going to cover and let rest in the fridge until completely chilled, about an hour. After which you will notice that this dough has become significantly more workable. So we're turning it out onto a floured surface and rolling out again to about a half inch thickness. Then we are liberally dusting our cutter in flour because this is a very sticky dough and for this one we're using an actual doughnut cutter so this way we get donuts and holes.

In theory that is... We just got to get this guy out of here somehow. Let's try shaking it violently, see what that does... nothing. In the end you gotta sort of just gently coax it out of there making sure not to pinch any edges. Rinse and repeat with the remaining dough and so we have a whole bunch of doughnuts and holes. All of which are going straight into a 350 degree vat of oil.

They are going to sink in first and then very quickly rise to the top. Once they're looking nice and golden-brown on one side, go ahead and give them a flip, and you can see the exterior of these doughnuts are splitting open, that is what we want. That is the characteristic look of the sour cream doughnut.

We're letting these cool completely on a wire rack making sure to fry our doughnut holes as well, these are gonna cook a little bit faster. While these all cool off it's time to make our glaze. We're starting by sifting about 400 grams of powdered sugar, to which we are going to add two teaspoons of light corn syrup, and a quarter cup of boiling water, whisk until completely combined and no lumps remain.

Give it a little taste to make sure that it's sweet enough, I'm kidding this is just pure sugar. Once our doughnuts have cooled off completely it's time to drop them in, give them a little fork toss, and then fish them out, repeating until every single one has a nice, thin layer of sweet saccharine icing. Then we just gotta let these harden for about 20 minutes before testing our hand-eye coordination.

That only took me like five attempts, I swear, and there you have it - simple glazed sour cream donuts. You can get creative with these try using maple syrup instead of water in the glaze, frost them, dip them, sprinkle them, whatever you like. Do not let anyone tell you how to doughnut, sorry... I'll see you guys next week at the bi-weekly livestream where I will be making these doughnuts live here on YouTube and you can tune in anytime to chat with me, shoot the breeze, or cook along.

I'll see you guys then until then, stay basic... maybe not. I got to figure out a good sign off catchphrase. I'll get back to you on that

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHey guys, welcome back to Basics withBabish where this week we're taking alook at donuts, or the best known excusefor eating deep-fried cake for breakfast.We're gonna whip up a mess of jelly andcream filled doughnuts and take a lookat the lesser-known sour cream donut.Let's get down to the gym... basics, let's get down to basics.Alright guys, so let's start out bymaking a standard yeasted doughnut we'regonna start by blooming our yeast insome milk that we've heated, over heatedto 120 degrees... gonna let it come down to 110. Add 1tsp of sugar as a nice littlesnack for our yeast, we're adding 1packet or two and a quarter teaspoons ofactive dry yeast. Then we're gonnameasure out our dry ingredients. First up,350 grams of all-purpose flour, 75 gramsof plain old white sugar, and oneteaspoon of table salt that we're goingto whisk together using America'sfavorite whisk: tiny whisk, beforestarting to add wet stuff. First off,three large egg yolks from three largeeggs, and our milk and yeast mixturewhich as you can see after ten minuteshas bloomed into a big hot foamy mess.We're gently just bringing all thistogether with a wooden spoon, or you cando it with your hands, either way. We'remixing it until the dough forms a singleshaggy mass one that we can turn outonto a lightly floured countertop andknead for no fewer and no greater thaneight minutes. After this nice littlesingle arm workout we should be leftwith a ball of smooth supple dough. Onethat we are going to cover in an oiledBowl and let rise for about one hour oruntil doubled in size this is theperfect time to get started on ourfillings we're going to start with avanilla creme pat. We're starting bycombining with three large egg yolks, onewhole egg, 85 grams of sugar, and maybelike 30 grams of cornstarch. We'rewhisking this together using normalsized whisk until it is smooth andcreamy and then we're going to add justa dab of vanilla paste until we get asmooth ribbony mixture. Into which we aregoing to slowly pour two cups of almostboiling milk an emphasis on slowly hereat least for about the first half themilk. This is going to temper the eggsand prevent them from turning scrambled. The latter half you can add it aslightly more aggressive pace becausethe eggs have been tempered. We're thenreturning this mixture back to thesaucepan, returning that saucepan back to thestovetop, and returning the heat tomedium-low while whisking constantlyuntil nice and thick. This is gonna takeabout five minutes and it's gonna looklike it's not working but, trust me it is.We're then transferring our creme fatinto a bowl, giving a little taste,burning our finger because it's hot, and pressingplastic wrap directly down onto thesurface of the pastry cream so as itdoes not form a skin. We are thenrefrigerating this for at least twoor until chilled completely. Duringwhich time we are going to deal with ourdonut dough. Turning it out onto alightly floured surface patting itineffectually a few times before rollingout to about a half inch thickness. Oncewe've got it appropriately then we'reusing a biscuit cutter dusted with flourto cut these guys down into donut sizedrounds. We are then retrieving theselittle guys and placing them on a wellfloured rimmed baking sheets for asecond and final rise of about 45minutes. You should of course repurposeyour dough scraps but these are going toyield kind of misshapen donuts sothey're little snacks for the chef. Onceyou've used up all your dough andeverybody's sitting pretty on the rimmedbaking sheet we're going to cover andlet rise for 45 minutes just untilthey've puffed up a bit. Then whenthey're almost ready to go we're goingto heat up some vegetable oil in acast-iron skillet until it reaches 350degrees Fahrenheit at which points ourdonuts are going for a little swim. Theyshould float immediately and withinabout 45 seconds to a minute they'regonna be ready to flip. Another 45seconds to 1 minute later and they areready to be removed and drained on awire rack. They must then be allowed tocool completely but before they do I'mgonna coat half of these in sugar whatyou got to do while they're still warm.The rest I'm leaving playing for nowbecause next up we got to make achocolate glaze. I'm combining 4 ouncesof chopped chocolate with a quarter cupof steaming whole milk, and then I'm going to add alittle shot of instant espresso powder,and a couple tablespoons of cornstarch.We're whisking that to combine and nowthat our donuts are cool it's time tofill and frost. Into a tall drinkingglass goes our piping bag that makes ita little bit easier to fill, and thenwe're gonna fill it with our vanillacreme pat. Which as you can see hasthickened up considerably in the refrigerator. Then using a paring knife we're making alittle entry point into all of ourdoughnuts into which our fillings can bedeposited. Once everybody's all chockfull of cream it's time to glaze. Simplydunk the top of the doughnut into ourchocolate glaze and let it harden up forlike 20 minutes. Then into our coateddoughnuts goes a bit of seedlessraspberry jam, same procedure poke a holesqueeze some stuff into it, and rejoicebecause look you just made doughnuts allby yourself. You have broken free of thestranglehold that big donut has had onthe doughnut industry since before youwere born.Now these doughnuts are great they'reclassic yeasted doughnuts but, I have asoft spot for sour cream doughnuts whichhave more of a crispy, crackled exteriorand a moist, denseinterior. We're starting by siftingtogether 600 grams of cake flour, one anda half tablespoons of baking powder, and2 teaspoons of table salt. Simply siftthat together and set aside while wecombine 5 egg yolks in the bowl of astand mixer, along with 250 grams ofplain white sugar, and 2 and 1/2tablespoons of unsalted butter thatwe're going to cream together using thepaddle attachment. Then to this mixture,we're adding about half of our dryingredients mixing just to combine,before adding 380 grams of sour cream.We're then beating this mixture togetheruntil everybody's well incorporatedbefore adding the remaining dryingredients. We're blending that togetherusing the paddle attachment for 45seconds to 1 minute making sure toscrape down the sides of the bowlbecause we want everybody to thoroughlyget to know each other we don't want anystragglers at this party. This is goingto leave us with a wet sticky dough thatwe're going to place into a bowl whichwe are going to cover and let rest inthe fridge until completely chilled,about an hour. After which you willnotice that this dough has becomesignificantly more workable. So we'returning it out onto a floured surfaceand rolling out again to about a halfinch thickness. Then we are liberallydusting our cutter in flour because thisis a very sticky dough and for this onewe're using an actual doughnut cutter sothis way we get donuts and holes. Intheory that is... We just got to get thisguy out of here somehow.Let's try shaking it violently, see whatthat does... nothing. In the end you gottasort of just gently coax it out of theremaking sure not to pinch any edges. Rinseand repeat with the remaining dough andso we have a whole bunch of doughnutsand holes. All of which are goingstraight into a 350 degree vat of oil.They are going to sink it first and thenvery quickly rise to the top. Oncethey're looking nice and golden-brown onone side, go ahead and give them a flip,and you can see the exterior of thesedoughnuts are splitting open, that iswhat we want.That is the characteristic look of thesour cream doughnut. We're letting thesecool completely on a wire rack makingsure to fry our doughnut holes as well,these are gonna cook a little bit fasterand then while these all cool off it'stime to make our glaze. We're starting bysifting about 400 grams of powderedsugar, to which we are going to add twoteaspoons of light corn syrup, and aquarter cup of boiling water, whisk untilcompletely combined and no lumps remain.Give it a little taste to make sure thatit's sweet enough, I'm kidding this isjust pure sugar, and once our doughnutshave cooled off completely it's time todrop them in, give them a little fork toss,and then fish them out, repeating untileverybody has a nice,thin layer of sweet saccharine icing. Thenwe just gotta let these harden for about20 minutes before testing our hand-eyecoordination. That only took me like fiveattempts, I swear, and there you have itsimple glazed sour cream donuts. You canget creative with these try using maplesyrup instead of water in the glaze,frost them, dip them, sprinkle them,whatever you like. Do-nut let anyone tellyou how to doughnut, sorry...I'll see you guys next week at thebi-weekly livestream where I will bemaking these doughnuts live here onYouTube and you can tune in anytime tochat with me, shoot the breeze, or cookalong. I'll see you guys then until then,stay basic.... maybe not. I got to figure outa good sign off catchphrase. I'll getback to you on that\n"