Breakfast: Doughnuts by Morgan

I helped. Just a little.

Raw doughnuts.



Into the oil. Morgan was scared of the hot oil (I don't blame her -- it scares me too sometimes!), so I was in charge of sliding them in and lifting them out.



The doughnut maker and her doughnuts.



Mmm, fresh doughnuts. (They tasted even better than they looked.)





Western Doughnuts
from King Arthur Flour: Whole Grain Baking
p. 535

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
5-6 cups vegetable oil for frying*

To make the dough: Whisk together the flours with the baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl. Beat in the melted butter and sugar. Add about 1 cup of the flour mixture, and beat until the mixture comes together. Stir in one-third of the milk. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture and half the remaining milk, then repeat the process once more until all the ingredients are combined. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To cut the doughnuts: Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.** Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half.*** Place one half on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with flour and roll it out until it's 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2 & 3/4-inch doughnut cutter^, cut out as many doughnuts as you can, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets with a spatula. Use a 1-inch round cutter^^ to make small doughnuts from the scraps; don't reroll, or the doughnuts will be tough. Refrigerate the doughnuts while the oil heats.

To fry: Heat 2-3 inches of vegetable oil in a deep, heavy skillet until it reaches a temperature of 375F. Deep-fry the doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, turning them over after about 3 minutes.^^^ Remove the doughnuts from the oil and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

*We used canola oil.

**I didn't have any parchment paper, but greasing the baking sheets instead worked quite nicely.

***I don't know what happened -- recipe fail? cook error? -- but that dough was not dough but liquid glop, even after a half hour in the frig. There was no way we were cutting that in half. Pouring it, maybe, but cutting, no. We had to add a lot more flour (I'm not sure how much -- 2-3 cups?) than the recipe called for to make it work.

^A regular round cookie cutter did the job just as well as a doughnut cutter.

^^We used a shot glass.

^^^We didn't time them, but waited until they floated to the top, then turned them, let them fry until Morgan pronounced them "Just Right!" and lifted them out.