Donuts — the classic glazed American yeast doughnut

i. Origin & history

Fried sweet dough is ancient and nearly universal, but the American doughnut has a fairly clear ancestor: the Dutch olykoek, 'oil cake', a ball of sweetened dough fried in fat, which Dutch settlers brought to New Amsterdam (later New York) in the seventeenth century — a close relative of today's oliebollen. The word 'dough-nut' was in print by the early nineteenth century; Washington Irving's 1809 History of New York describes 'balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called dough-nuts, or oly koeks'. The name probably refers to the small, nut-sized balls of dough, though some suggest it came from nuts pressed into the centre.

The hole has its own legend. A New England sea captain, Hanson Gregory, claimed in a newspaper interview many decades later that in 1847, as a young sailor, he had punched the centre out of a fried cake because the middle was always raw. Whether or not he was first, the ring shape solved a real problem, and by the late nineteenth century tin doughnut cutters were common in American kitchens.

The twentieth century made the doughnut a national symbol. During the First World War, Salvation Army volunteers in France fried doughnuts for American troops, and the 'doughnut lassies' became famous; National Doughnut Day, on the first Friday in June, was started by the Salvation Army in 1938 to commemorate them. In the 1920s an immigrant baker in New York, Adolph Levitt, developed automated doughnut-frying machines, and doughnut shops spread through cities. Chains followed: Krispy Kreme in North Carolina in the 1930s, Dunkin' Donuts in Massachusetts around 1950, and Tim Hortons in Canada in 1964.

The short spelling 'donut' appeared in the late nineteenth century and was popularised by these chains. Today 'donut' dominates American signage and casual use, while 'doughnut' is standard in British English and formal writing. They mean exactly the same thing.

ii. What makes a doughnut light, not greasy

American doughnuts come in two families. Raised (yeast) doughnuts — the glazed ring, the Boston cream, the long john — are made from an enriched bread dough and are light, airy and slightly chewy. Cake doughnuts, including the craggy 'old-fashioned', are made from a thick batter leavened with baking powder and are denser and crumbly. This recipe is for the raised kind.

The dough is richer than bread: milk, eggs, butter and sugar make it soft and tender and help it brown. That richness slows the yeast, so it needs a warm, patient first rise, and it needs to be kneaded well, because strong gluten is what traps the gas and stops the doughnut from soaking up oil. A well-developed dough feels smooth and elastic and stretches thin without tearing.

Proving is the most important stage. Under-proved doughnuts are dense and tight, and their outside sets before they can expand, so they split. Over-proved ones are weak; they collapse when lifted, spread in the oil and absorb fat. They are ready when they have nearly doubled and a fingertip pressed gently into the side leaves a dent that springs back slowly.

Oil temperature is the other control. At around 175–180 °C the surface of the dough instantly forms a crust as its moisture turns to steam, which pushes outward and keeps oil from soaking in. Too cool, and that steam barrier is weak and the doughnut drinks oil; too hot, and the outside browns before the inside cooks. A properly proved doughnut fried at the right temperature floats high, and the line where it sat above the oil shows as a pale ring around its middle — the mark of a good doughnut.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g strong white bread flour
• 60 g caster sugar
• 7 g instant yeast
• 8 g fine salt
• 250 ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 60 g unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, optional
• 1500 ml sunflower, rapeseed or groundnut oil, for frying
• 300 g icing sugar, sifted, for the glaze
• 75 ml whole milk, for the glaze
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp fine salt, for the glaze

Strong bread flour gives the gluten for a tall, light, slightly chewy doughnut; with plain flour they are softer and more cake-like but still good. Nutmeg is the traditional American doughnut spice and is what gives a shop doughnut its familiar smell; leave it out for a cleaner vanilla flavour. For frying, use a neutral oil with a high smoke point; vegetable shortening, used by many shops, gives a drier, less greasy finish. The glaze is a thin icing that sets into the translucent, crackly shell of a classic glazed doughnut; a little salt keeps it from tasting flat.

iv. Method

1. Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add the warm milk and eggs and mix to a rough dough.
2. Knead for 8–10 minutes by hand or 5–6 minutes in a stand mixer, then add the butter a little at a time and knead for another 3–4 minutes, until the dough is smooth, glossy and elastic and stretches into a thin, translucent sheet. Cover and leave in a warm place for 1–1½ hours, until doubled.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock it back and roll it out 1.5 cm thick. Cut rings with a 9 cm doughnut cutter, or a 9 cm and a 3 cm round cutter. Gather and re-roll the scraps once; fry the holes as well.
4. Place each ring on a square of floured baking paper on a tray, well spaced. Cover loosely and prove for 30–45 minutes, until puffy and nearly doubled and a gentle press leaves a dent that springs back slowly.
5. Heat the oil in a deep, heavy saucepan to 175 °C (350 °F), filling it no more than a third full. Lower the doughnuts in two or three at a time, still on their paper; pull the paper out with tongs after a few seconds. Fry for 60–90 seconds per side, until deep golden, then lift onto a rack set over kitchen paper.
6. For the glaze, whisk the icing sugar, milk, vanilla and salt until smooth and the consistency of thin double cream.
7. While the doughnuts are still warm, dip the top of each into the glaze, or dip them all over, and return to the rack. Leave for 10 minutes until the glaze sets into a thin, shiny shell.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Knead until the dough is truly elastic. Weak gluten lets oil in and makes heavy doughnuts. Do the windowpane test: a small piece should stretch thin enough to see light through.
• Prove on paper squares. Lifting proved doughnuts by hand squashes them; lowering them into the oil on their paper keeps their shape.
• Use a thermometer. Keep the oil between 170 and 180 °C, and adjust the heat between batches. Too many doughnuts at once drops the temperature sharply.
• Do not over-prove. Doughnuts that are puffy and wrinkling at the edges will collapse and fry greasy. Fry them slightly early rather than late.
• Glaze while warm. Warm doughnuts melt the glaze slightly into a thin, even shell; cold ones give a thick, matte coat.
• Re-roll scraps only once. The more the dough is worked, the tighter and tougher it becomes.

vi. Variations

From the same dough: sugared rings, tossed in caster sugar or cinnamon sugar while warm; filled doughnuts, cut as rounds without holes and piped with jam, custard or cream through the side, as in a Boston cream; long johns or maple bars, cut as rectangles and topped with maple icing, which leads to the maple bacon donut; and chocolate-iced rings dipped in a cocoa glaze. The lava donut seals a ball of frozen ganache inside the dough before frying, and the New York cronut fries laminated croissant dough.

Around the world, the family is huge: Germany's jam-filled Berliner, Norway's cardamom smultring, the Dutch oliebollen, East Africa's mandazi, the Gulf's luqaimat and India's flaky, syrup-soaked balushahi.

vii. Serving & storage

Doughnuts are at their best within a few hours of frying, still faintly warm, with coffee. In the United States they are a breakfast and mid-morning food as much as a dessert, bought by the dozen for offices and weekend mornings; the holes, fried separately, are sold as 'doughnut holes' or, in Canada, 'Timbits'.

Glazed doughnuts keep for a day in a loosely closed paper bag or box at room temperature; in an airtight container the glaze turns sticky. Refrigeration stales them quickly. Unglazed doughnuts freeze well for up to a month — thaw, warm in a 150 °C oven for 5 minutes, then glaze. The dough can also be made the night before and given its first rise slowly in the fridge, which gives a slightly more flavourful doughnut; bring it to room temperature before rolling.

ix. More from North American

• Maple Bacon Donut — maple bar with crisp bacon
• Lava Donut — molten chocolate centre
• Cronut — croissant-doughnut hybrid
• Doughnut Ice Cream Cone — doughnut dough as a cone
• Berliner — German jam doughnuts
• Oliebollen — Dutch New Year fritters