This post should have been up a month back and somehow its making its appearance only now. Well, as long as its coming out of the drafts, its OK.

I too have been away from here for a long time now. Only 3 posts in the past three months. The ‘list of excuses’ for my absence run a page long, with each excuse sounding better than the other. I will use them some other time, not now – not today…

Lets just say that I am just happy to be back, and I have brought some donuts for all of you…Enjoy!

Donuts was our We Knead to Bake group’s challenge bake for July.

Note: My thinned my chocolate glaze too much to try writing, so it turned out to be too runny. You can make that out from the pictures, can’t you?

Recipe Source: My Diverse Kitchen

Ingredients:

• Flour                                         :               2.5 cups (might need another cup)
• Superfine Sugar                      :               1/4 cup
• Milk                                           :               1 cup, warm
• Yeast                                          :               3 tsp
• Butter                                        :              100 gm, cut into cubes
• Vanilla Extract                         :              1 tbsp
• Salt                                             :              1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm milk and keep aside for 10 minutes. The yeast has to bubble up or the dough wont rise. So discard and start with another batch if the yeast doesn’t foam.
2. In a food processor, add the flour, sugar (I crushed ordinary sugar in a mixie) and salt and whisk a couple of times. Add the yeast dissolved milk and make a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the cubed butter pieces one at a time and run through till its incorporated into the dough. You might have to add a bit more flour to get a soft elastic dough.
4. Knead the dough on a floured surface a couple of times till it’s not sticky anymore and let it rest in a well oiled bowl (turning all around so that the dough is coated with oil). Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside for an hour or until the dough has doubled in volume.
5. Once its doubled in size, punch it down. Roll into 1/2 inch thickness flat piece and cut out into doughnut shapes. The outer ring should be about 3″ diameter and inner one should be 1″ long. I used a sharp spoon for the inner round and a lid of a small stainless steel bowl for the outer ring.
6. You can either bake the inner round pieces as such or roll them again together with the other scraps to make more doughnuts.
7. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C.
8. Place the doughnuts in a baking tray leaving about 1″ space between them. Be careful while transferring to the baking tray as the dough is very delicate and might lose its shape if not handled carefully.
9. Let them rest for 20 minutes or so, until doubled in size. Bake for 5-10 minutes until golden brown on top.
10. Take them out of the oven, let it cool completely and dip on the prepared glaze of your choice. Decorate and enjoy :)

Chocolate glaze

• Powdered sugar  : 1 cups powdered sugar
• Cocoa powder     : 3 tbsp
• Milk/Water         : 2-3 tbsp
• Vanilla Extract   :  1 tsp

Method:

1. Whisk the sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl. Slowly add the milk or water and vanilla to get a glaze of the required consistency. You can use this glaze recipe if you want a ‘cooked’ glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

• Powdered sugar  :   1 cup
• Milk                       :    2 tbsp.
• Vanilla extract     :   1 tsp
• Food colouring, as required

Method:

1. Heat vanilla extract and milk over medium heat. Add the sugar. Whisk until combined. Take off the heat and use as required. You can add food colouring of your choice.