The Amazing Affect of Yeast:
Texture:
Yeast in reality is a living organism, and as the yeast eats up the glucose in the flour, milk, or sugar in your dough, it releases carbon dioxide, causing the dough to expand. I understand that having little yeast organisms in your food is not particularly appealing, but an abundance of baked goods such as bread, cinnamon rolls, and pita all include yeast. The release of carbon dioxide within this dough causes these doughnuts to be light, chewy, and melt in your mouth.
Flavor:
In addition to creating an unbelievable texture, yeast also provides this doughnut dough with depth of flavor. For example, if you were to make a doughnut without yeast, and use baking soda or baking powder instead, your dough will practically have no flavor or taste. However, when dealing with yeast dough, the yeast releases flavorful sugars during the rising process, thus giving your doughnut dough a subtle, but complex fermented flavor.
Yeast is Really Easy to Use:
In the world of home cooking, I feel that many believe incorporating yeast into a recipe is a daunting task. In reality, however, yeast is truly simple to use. All you need to do to activate yeast is combine yeast with some warm water and sugar or just some warm milk. Let your mixture sit for a bit and voilà, your yeast mixture is ready to be incorporated into a dough. By understanding how to use yeast, you will be able to elevate many of your baked goods as well as keep your house smelling like a bakery 24/7.
The Coffee Glaze:
The original powdered sugar doughnut glaze is great, but why not spice it up a little. The coffee in the glaze gives the doughnut a nutty pungency signature to coffee. It also counterbalances and mellows out the large amount of powdered sugar in the glaze. A coffee glaze may not be super common, but honestly, it should be. The combination of doughnuts with coffee is already beloved, so why not combine the two and make coffee glazed doughnuts.
Homemade Doughnuts are So Worth It:
Everybody including me knows that it’s really hard to beat the pillowy clouds known as Krispy Kreme doughnuts. These large scale companies have every ingredient and measurement down to a tee, and that’s why they are always so consistently addicting. However, there is something really rewarding about making a doughnut from scratch. Even if your doughnut looks more like an oval than a perfect circle, there is satisfaction in knowing that you took time and effort into creating something of your own. Most importantly, however, I really do think that this doughnut recipe may have the edge on the classic Krispy Kreme.
Coffee Glazed Yeast Doughnuts
Cuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy16
doughnuts3
hoursA simple yeast-risen doughnut dough topped with a coffee glaze
Ingredients
- For The Dough
1 1/4 cups milk
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick butter), melted and cooled
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (sifted), plus more for rolling out the dough
32 fluid ounces of canola oil
- For The Glaze
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Dark chocolate
Directions
- Heat the milk until warm. Combine the milk with the yeast in a large bowl. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine the yeast mixture, eggs, melted butter, sugar, and salt.
- Add about a 1/2 cup of flour into the mixture at a time. Continue to add the flour gradually until no more remains. Once the dough is too stiff to mix, transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth.
- Place the dough into a lightly-greased large bowl, and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour. The dough should double in size.
- Place the dough on a well-floured surface and roll the dough to a 1/2 inch in thickness. Using a circular cookie cutter (approximately 4 inches in diameter) cut out as many circles as you can. Knead the scraps together and continue this process until no more dough remains. Then using a shot glass, cut out holes in each doughnut.
- Place the doughnuts on a floured baking sheet. Make sure they all have plenty of room to grow. Let the doughnuts rise for about 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, you can make your glaze. In a small pot, combine the instant coffee with the milk until no coffee granules remain. Let this mixture cool for about 15 minutes in the fridge. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the milk mixture with the powdered sugar until no clumps remain. The glaze may seem too thick, but it should be quite thick in order to stick properly to the doughnut.
- In a large pot, heat your canola oil on medium heat for approximately 10 minutes. Line a few baking sheets with paper towels. Cook each doughnut for about 45 seconds on each side. Place the doughnuts on the baking sheets and let them cool for about 10 minutes.
- Dip each doughnut into the glaze and using a grater or a micro plane, shave some dark chocolate on each one.
- Enjoy your doughnuts!
Notes
- You can use any size cookie cutter to cut out your doughnuts, however, cooking time may vary
- You will know if the oil is hot enough if you splash a little water in the oil and the oil begins to pop
If you enjoyed this recipe, check out my last recipe: Homemade Spaghetti with Tomato Cream Sauce and Bacon.
