My first month as part of the Daring Bakers and guess what, the challenge was doughnuts! I found it extremely humorous that I waited to so long to make homemade doughnuts, and here I was going to make them twice within such a short amount of time!

For my second doughnut attempt, I chose the Old Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnut, by Nancy Silverton. Dave has always wanted me to try this since these are his favorite whenever we pick them up.

I chose this recipe since it sounded pretty easy and who couldn’t pass up a doughnut recipe that from beginning to end would take only and hour. I made these after Dave put the kids to bed so they would be ready for Monday morning to take to work.

Time to Make the Doughnuts!

I warmed the sour cream over a pot of boiling water and gently mixed the dry ingredients together. I placed the yeast into the well I made in the center of the flour, and gently added the sour cream on top to soften the yeast.

While I waited for the yeast to soften, I started heating the oil.  Then I measured buttermilk, vanilla and eggs (tip: break the yolks up!) into a glass measuring cup. When I thought the yeast should be soft, I added the liquid to the well. With one hand, draw in more flour into the liquid well. The dough should be smooth before you add more flour. Side note: Not entirely sure I did this part right.

The dough was extremely sticky, like the recipe indicated. (I would have taken pictures if I could have gotten all the dough off my fingers!) I spread quite a bit of flour on the counter and put the dough on top and patted it out to about 1/2″ thick. Again, using lots of flour on my hands and on the dough to keep it from sticking. I really wanted to make some cute mini doughnuts, but every time I cut the dough it fell apart so I went back to my regular biscuit cutter. Till now, things were pretty good.

In the middle of frying I decided to make a chocolate glaze to add to the top, since I LOVE chocolate iced doughnuts. I found an Alton Brown recipe and used it as a guide in making my own since I didn’t need a large amount of it. I added some powdered espresso to the milk/butter as it warmed on the stove for the extra kick.

Still I wait and wait and wait for my oil to come to temperature. I did some test drops and it still didn’t seem like the right temperature (almost 100 degrees below what I needed.) I finally just decide to drop a doughnut in – YIKES superfast frying, and since the dough was really stick and soft they were coming out all oddly shaped. After a few burned fingertips and overcooked oil I had a passable and definitely homemade looking dozen of doughnuts. I used about half the dough and froze the rest. Note: I think I need a new thermometer, this is the second time I’ve had problems with the oil.

Happy Birthday to Me!

In compiling my final shot I decided to use the doughnut holes sort of as reminder to how my whole blog experience started one year ago this month with my pumpkin cake pops. I wish I could have thrown my a proper birthday this year, but maybe I’ll catch up with a belated present here in the next few months now that we’re entering my favorite time of year….the holidays!

thesugarpixieBakingBreakfastbreakfast,daring bakers,doughnutsMy first month as part of the Daring Bakers and guess what, the challenge was doughnuts! I found it extremely humorous that I waited to so long to make homemade doughnuts, and here I was going to make them twice within such a short amount of time! For my second...Misadventures and fun in the kitchen and beyond