For this one, pull out your favorite
apron and put away your black shirt. When all is said and done, you should be
covered in powdered sugar if you did this correctly. Make your own powdered
donuts now!
Beignets, funnel cake, zeppole, fry
bread, and of course, powdered donuts can all be made with fried dough and
powdered sugar. Adding yeast to a cake donut to give these fluffy rings the
best of both worlds allowed us to create a classic sweet treat with a twist.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Preparation time: 1
hour
Total time: 1
hour 45 minutes
Ingredients
to Make Powdered Donuts
- 3/4 cup of whole milk
- One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and one lemon's zest, finely grated
- 1/4 ounce of dry active yeast
- An additional 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour for rolling
- 1 1/4 cups of cake flour
- One and half teaspoon of baking powder
- One teaspoon of kosher salt
- Half a teaspoon baking soda
- One large egg
- A single large egg yolk
- Half a cup of sugar, granulated
- Two tablespoons of room-temperature butter
- Vanilla extract, two teaspoons
- Six cups of canola oil
- 3/4 cup of powdered sugar
Directions to Make Powdered Donuts
- Put the milk and lemon juice in a measuring cup or small heatproof bowl and leave for five minutes. In the meantime, cut out ten roughly 3-by-3-inch squares of parchment. On a sheet tray, arrange the squares so that none overlap.
- Microwave the milk on High for 15-second increments until an instant-read thermometer reads between 100° and 105° after it has thickened and begun to curdle. After adding the yeast to the milk mixture, stir it in gently. Give the yeast five to ten minutes to bloom.
- Combine all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Beat the egg, egg yolk, butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and yeast mixture in a large bowl until smooth. (It's okay if there are still a few tiny bits of butter visible.) To avoid overmixing, add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough just begins to come together. A rubber spatula should be able to easily scrape through sticky dough.
- Turn out dough and generously dust a work surface with all-purpose flour. Sprinkle the dough with additional flour. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until it is 1/2" thick. Use a bench scraper to turn the dough over. Dust the dough's surface with flour, then smooth it out with a rolling pin.
- Cut out 6 to 7 rounds with a 3" round or biscuit cutter. Reroll dough to 1/2" thickness, collecting scraps and gently pressing them together. Remove three or four more rounds. Using a large piping tip or any other available tool, make a hole in the middle of each round, ranging from 1/2" to 3/4". Place cutout rounds on squares of parchment paper.
- Heat oil over medium heat in a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven that has a candy or deep-fry thermometer attached until the thermometer reads 340°. Place donuts in oil with parchment paper to help hold them in place. Fry two to three at a time, turning with a spatula, until deep golden brown, about 1 minute per side (it's okay if the parchment sticks to the dough; it will come off as the donut cooks). Between batches, keep the oil's temperature between 335° and 350°. Move the donuts to a wire rack lined with paper towels. Give it a half hour or so to cool to room temperature.
- Shake the powdered sugar and lemon zest together in a large container or paper lunch bag. Drop two donuts at a time into the powdered sugar mixture, cover with a lid or a bag, and shake gently to coat the donuts. Serve right away.