Yeast-Raised Doughnuts

Servings : 18 doughnuts

I’ve had several requests for soft and light yeast-raised doughnuts. Well, they definitely don’t get any softer or lighter than these yummy ones here. Took bites out of 2 just so you can see the fluffy airy insides…soooo soft and delicious!

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup warm milk
  • 2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast
  • 2 tbsp. warm water
  • 2 1/2 tbsp. melted butter
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla essence (or you can use cinnamon/nutmeg)
  • 1 egg lightly beaten

Instructions

Have an extra quarter cup of flour handy in case the flour gets too sticky you can sprinkle some more a little at a time.

For the Donuts

Add the yeast to the warm water in a small bowl, cover and set aside for about 5-10 minutes.

In the meantime sift the flour. Add the salt and sugar. Stir with a whisk just to combine everything properly. Once the yeast has proofed/become activated (it will have swollen up and become bubbly in the water), add it to the flour.

Now add the melted butter, beaten egg and the warm milk. Stir everything together and knead to form a sticky dough. You can use the hook attachment if you’re using a machine, otherwise you can just do this by hand. Remember, you want the dough a little bit sticky. So if it’s tooo sticky to handle, dust a bit of flour or oil your hands lightly and knead, but try not to get it too firm as that will not give you light and soft doughnuts. Knead for about 4-5 minutes, then turn the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with cling film. Set aside for about an hour or until the dough doubles in volume.

If you are kneading the dough at night and want the doughnuts for the following day, after kneading the dough and putting it in a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate. The dough will slowly rise in the refrigerator, and the next day you can just proceed to shape and fry your doughnuts. DO NOT cover with aluminum foil.

Once risen, knock the air out of the dough, turn it out on your work surface and roll out to a little under a half inch thickness. Cut out your doughnuts and set them aside on a floured surface or tray. Keep the doughnuts covered with a light kitchen towel.

Bunch together all the scraps of dough and keep forming doughnuts until all the dough is used up.

Let the shaped doughnuts rest and rise for about another hour.

Heat your oil. If you have a kitchen thermometer, get the oil to about 170-180 C. This is the ideal temperature for frying doughnuts.

Fry the doughnuts, maintaining the heat on medium. If the oil gets too hot, the doughnuts will color too quickly and remain doughy in the center. Drain on a rack until all the doughnuts are fried.

Once they’ve cooled, you can glaze or sugar-coat them according to your preference. Here are the glaze recipes I used.

Ingredients & Instructions for the Glaze

For sugar glaze, measure out 1 cup of icing sugar, add a few drops of vanilla essence to it, then gradually add warm milk or water a tsp. at a time and mix until it becomes smooth and of a thin consistency. Make this right when you are about to dip the doughnuts as the glaze will set as it dries on the doughnuts.

For chocolate glaze, I just melted cadbury’s milk chocolate, added 1 tsp. butter to give it a shine and a tiny pinch of salt to add depth of flavor to the chocolate. Then dip the doughnuts one at a time and place them on a rack until the chocolate sets. If you want, you can add sprinkles or whatever toppings you like before the chocolate sets.

Otherwise you can dust some icing sugar on the doughnuts or even just serve them plain, or top them with some warm jam. Anything you like! 🙂

Enjoy! 🙂

186 thoughts on “Yeast-Raised Doughnuts
186 Replies
  • Salam fauzia
    Salam fauzia
    Maine apki yeast donut recipe try ki donuts andar se bht ache bsne but opar se thode se hard hogae thy iska reason kahin yeh to nae kai maine dough bana kar ziada dair bahar rakh dia tha…
    Plz mujhe iska reason zarur bata di jiye ga waiting for ur reply thnx alot msine r b bht si recipes try ki hain sb bht achi bani hain

  • Hello fauzia, I recently got
    Hello fauzia, I recently got introduced to this site through a friend and I have tried a few of your recipes, they were good.
    My question,though, for this recipe is, this marinade is for 18 doughnuts, which is TOO much for us. Is it alright If I make a few doughnuts, and freeze the dough and use it some other time?

  • Salam fouzia..i made these
    Salam fouzia..i made these wonderful donuts yesterday n as usual ur this recipie turned amazing..i firat time tried any donut recipi n my kids n hubby love it..i didnt uae warm water as warm milk was enough for sticky dough..when i fried n taste imediate it was like marvellous..crispy fluffy…i must say they must fried just before serving..after sm time the bacame just as dunkin donuts;-)….a simple question what if i want to fry them.just before serving on eid day..i mean if i cut them n wrap the tray in a loose plastic wrap in the fridge as u said..would they will be ok for atleast two days..or shud i fry them in one go? I want to serve them hot n crispy..pls guide..so many prayers for u..be blessed always..ameen

    • Thanks for the wonderful
      Thanks for the wonderful feedback, am so glad it turned out well for you. With yeast dough, I would not risk it staying a couple of days in the fridge as it will keep on proofing/rising and the results might end up smelling or tasting quite yeasty. If there is a way to prepare the dough the night before and get them done morning of Eid they should be just fine inshaAllah. 🙂

  • Ok thnxalot..i will do this n
    Ok thnxalot..i will do this n will microwave….my hubby wants to serve them hot for its crispness n fluffy…since last two years am making ur dishes on eid..like rose roll..chkn bread. Kbab in the balnket ..cake balls. Pineapple cake all werr super hit except swiss roll..:-( there must be sm mistake from my side..inshAlha i will try these donuts again..thnx for the prompt rply..love uuuuuu:-)

  • Hi fauzia
    Hi fauzia
    Can we use the same recipe for baked donuts ? I have a proper electric builtin oven.. can you plz tell me at which temperature I have to bake this recipe of dounts and for how long ?

    Plzzz do tell me .. I want to try out ur recipe but with baking not frying

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