Baked Doughnuts [Eggless]

It was around 4 years back, during my stint in the USA when my affair began.

All I needed was just 10 minutes to sneak out of office, for a quick break and head to the street corner to meet my love. 

It was not a secret affair. In fact, couple of times, I took my best friend along on our date. Most of my friends knew about our pairing - Me and Krispy Kreme doughnuts! :)

 

Glazed doughnuts were my favourite. Anytime of the day, I could down 3-4 of these with utmost joy.  I was truly.madly.deeply in love with them. Soft, mildly sweet, melt-in-the-mouth yummies! :) I did try the other variants as well. Chocolate glazed, cream-filled, jam filled, topped with almonds etc. I liked them... but after each experiment, I would come back to my first love and then... it was love and pure love in every bite :)

My joy knew no bounds when I knew Krispy Kreme was venturing into Bangalore. I was there in the first few days of he store's opening to grab my share of love. Fond memories came flashing back as I munched into them :)

 

Doughnuts, are usually deep-fried and then coated with sugar glaze or topped with toppings of various kinds. So, when I heard of this baked version, wasn't I truly delighted?! Yes, I was skeptical about how a baked version would taste like, especially after having some serious feeling for those deep-fried doughnuts ;) 

But these little beauties are equally yum! I wouldn't say they are better or can be a substitute for the original ones. They definitely are an interesting variant which I absolutely loved... making, serving and eating! :)

The best part is you can get creative with the toppings. Make them as pretty as you like, as colourful as you like. And I so loved working with those adorable little doughnut holes! Aww... super cute little things :)

(Adapted from Lara Ferroni’s Doughnuts and My Diverse Kitchen)


Ingredients:

Sugar - 1/4 cup
Warm Milk - 1 cup (45C/115F)
Instant Yeast - 3/4 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp
Cake Flour - 1 cup (or 1tbsp cornstarch + enough all-purpose flour to make up to 1 cup)
All Purpose Flour / Maida - 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups
Butter - 100gm cold, cut into 1 inch cubes

For the topping:

Cinnamon Dust: Sugar 1 cup + Cinnamon powder - 1 tbsp (more or less, depending on your taste), mixed together. About 1/2 cup melted butter for brushing.

Vanilla Glaze: Vanilla Essence 2 tsp + Icing Sugar 1 cup + Milk 2 tbsp, mixed together.
Chocolate Glaze: Cocoa Powder 1-2 tbsp + Icing Sugar 1 cup + Milk 2 tbsp, mixed together.


Method:
Using a hand blender or a processor to knead helps but you can do this by hand. 

• Put the sugar, milk, yeast, salt and vanilla in the processor bowl and pulse to mix well. Add the cake flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour and process, adding a little more of the flour as necessary till the dough is thick and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Now add the butter pieces one at a time and process till there no large chunks of butter are left in the bottom of the bowl. Now add a little more flour until your have a soft, pliable and elastic dough that is most but not overly sticky.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly greased large mixing bowl., turning it to coat well. Cover with a damp towel and let it rise till double in volume. This should take about an hour.

• Punch down the dough and roll out to a thickness of 1/2" thickness. Cut out doughnuts using a doughnut cutter or whatever you have on hand to cut out 3” diameter with 1” diameter holes. If you’re making doughnuts to fill with jam, then do not cut out the holes. Place the doughnuts and the holes on parchment lined or lightly greased baking sheets, leaving at least 1” space between them.
• Re-roll the scraps and cut out more doughnuts. I used the last left over scraps of dough by pinching of bits, rolling them into balls and baking them too. 

 

• Let them rise for about 20 minutes or till almost double in size and then bake them at 180 for about 5 to 10 minutes till they’re done and golden brown. Do not over bake them. 
• Take them out of the oven and immediately brush them with the melted butter and then dip them into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

• If glazing your doughnuts, let them cool completely and then dip one side of the doughnut in the glaze of your choice and let it set.

I used a mini cutter and got 24 little doughnuts and cute doughnut holes. They were a treat to the eyes and a feast to the tummy :)