raised buttermilk doughnuts

Somehow of all the silly things to promise for breakfast on Easter morning, I promised Tavio in the store yesterday that I would make doughnuts. He wanted me to buy a small little bag for $5, I had wanted to try making some for a time, and I knew I had extra time Easter morning since it was Conference Sunday so I could let them raise. I also knew that I had seen a few recipes around on blogs. What I wasn't thinking was of all the sweets of Easter and adding more sweets to that. I made a healthy smoothie to tide everyone over while the doughnuts were raising, and to add something healthy to the mix.


I had seen recipes for doughnuts on realmomkitchen. I also looked up a recipe on allrecipe.com. Both were quite similar. realmom used all milk, allrecipes used 1 1/2 cups milk and 1/4 cup water, and their methods of mixing were different. I followed realmom's mixing because I knew I didn't need to proof my yeast. I also decided to use 1 cup skim milk, and 3/4 cups buttermilk to make a buttermilk doughnut. Realmom had 2 icind recipes, and allrecipes had 1 that was different- I went with the allrecipe glaze. It was delicious.


My first batch I took out when they were rather light in color because that is what a doughnut normally looks like. The next batch I set the time for 1 minute a side and they seemed really dark. I even took them out a bit before the minute. I actually liked the darker color ones more. They were really crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside. They were a little more cakey than I thought they would be, but they were still yummy. I thought they were a little more cakey that stor bought, but they were fine to me. Probably the result of cutting some sugar out and switching to buttermilk.


I had read somewhere to put them on wax paper when they were rising so they didn't deflate when you picked them up and put them in the oil. That worked ok for some, but some stuck and made it exceedingly difficult to get off. Next time I think I would use aluminum foil and/or spray the foil or wax paper with cooking spray.



Here is what I did:


Ingredients

• 5 cups flour
• 1 cup skim milk, heated (I heated this for 1 min 30 seconds in the microwave then added the buttermilk to cool it to lukewarm before adding to the mix.)
• 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup splenda
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• oil for frying

Glaze Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2-3 Tablespoons water
  

Directions

1. Mix 2 cups flour and the rest of dry ingredients in a bowl. Add eggs, milk, and shotening and beat until smooth. Add the rest of the flour and mix until smooth. Cover and let rise until double. (50-60 minutes).


2. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. (I rolled them a bit thinner than this.) Cut with a doughnut cutter (I don't have one of these, just a big set of round cutters, so I used 2 to make a doughnut shape.) Let rise until double.


3. Make glaze by melting butter in a saucepan. Add vanilla and sugar and mix. Add water 1 Tablespoon at a time until desired consistency. I started with 2, but as I glazed, the glaze thickened and I added a bit more water.


4. Heat 1 1/2 -2 inches of oil in a pan to 350. Fry doughnuts for 45 seconds to 1 minute on each side. Cool on a wire rack on a cookie sheet. Dip in glaze while still warm.

For me this made approximately 2 dozen doughnuts.