Doughnuts

My all time favorite dessert is doughnuts.  I love them.  I would eat them every day if I could.  I especially love bakery style donuts.  I would rather go to a local bakery than a large doughnut chain.  Everywhere we have lived, I have had to find myself a bakery with good doughnuts to treat myself with every now and then.  Look at the bottom of this page to see my favorite bakeries in each place we have lived! If you do not have a good bakery in your town, I challenge you to make them yourself.  I find them very easy to make and taste just as good as ones you get at the bakery, not to mention a lot cheaper.  They can be time consuming, but, trust me!  It is well worth the effort!

Doughnuts
Ingredients
1/2 cup warm water
2 pkg yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil or Crisco
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Directions

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water.  Let sit until the mixture begins to foam, about 5-10 minutes.  If it does not foam, you need to start over.
2. In a small pot, melt oil or Crisco into milk.  Keep on heat until milk has bubbles around the side.  Let cool.  Letting this cool is very important.  If you do not let it cool properly, it will kill the yeast and your doughnuts will be flat.
3. Mix milk mixture, sugar, salt, eggs and 1 cup of flour until the mixture is smooth.
4. Mix the remainder of the flour in slowly.  You may not need all of it.  Once it pulls away from the bowl, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes.  The dough should be elastic.
5. Let dough rise until doubles.  Approx. 1-2 hours.
6. Roll out about 1/4 inch and cut.  Let rise for another hour.
7. Preheat 1 inch of oil to 350 degrees.
8. Carefully move the doughnuts into the fryer.
9. Fry on each side until golden brown.  Should not take longer than 1 minute on each side.
10. Let cool on a paper towel.

Notes
This recipe makes 24 regular sized donuts.  I just make doughnut holes out of all the dough so I do not have to reroll any of the dough, nor do I have to worry about the doughnuts becoming misshaped before frying.

You can make just about any combination of doughnuts with this recipe.  You can fill them with your favorite fillings, dust them with powdered sugar, make cinnamon sugar like in the above photo, glazed, iced, etc. 

Vanilla Glazed Doughnut Holes

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Is home made worth it?

2 pkg yeast = $.76
3/4 cup milk = $.18
1/3 cup vegetable oil or Crisco = $.24
1/2 cup sugar = $.13
1 teaspoon salt = $.007
2 eggs = $.28
4 1/2 cup all purpose flour = $.45

Once recipe of doughnuts = $2.05.  Please keep in mind that this does not include glaze, icing or fillings.

Since one recipe makes 2 dozen, one dozen would cost approx. $1.03.  Each doughnut would cost $.09.  That, even when you add a few cents for toppings or fillings is a lot cheaper than going out to buy them.

I will compare these with most bakery style doughnuts.  I can buy one dozen assorted doughnuts for $7.00 at my local bakery.  So, since the above recipe also makes a dozen, you will save $5.97 buy making them at home. Plus, you will have the extra doughnut holes that you have to buy separate at the bakery.

Summery

One bakery doughnut =  $.58.
One homemade doughnut = $.09.

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My favorite bakeries

Savannah, Georgia -- Baker's Pride.
Louisville, Kentucky -- Nord's Bakery
Carrollton, Georgia -- Vogelsberg Bakery
Richland, Mississippi -- The Donut Shop Cafe