The Greatest Homemade Doughnut Recipes You'll Ever Find (2024)

FAQs

What makes a good donut? ›

All-purpose flour works well for doughnuts since it has a moderate amount of gluten–the binding protein commonly used in baking. This gluten content helps create a dough that is strong enough to trap air, which helps create the fluffy doughnut texture we all love.

Old-Fashioned Doughnuts are basically cake doughnuts that have been fried. This gives them a slightly crunchy outer shell, that's usually lacquered with glaze or dusted with sugar. The inside tends to be less dense than the cake of your typical powdered doughnut and less airy than a Krispy Kreme-style glazed.

In 15th century Germany, where sugar was hard to come by, they were often cooked savory with fillings like meat or mushroom. The Pilgrims and Dutch settlers brought doughnuts to America.

The history of the doughnut itself is generally traced to Dutch immigrants in 17th- and 18th-century New York, then New Netherland, who prepared fried dough balls called olie koeken or olykoeks, which means “oil cakes.” They were similar to modern doughnuts, although they did not yet have the iconic ring shape.

Use real cake flour – not DIY cake flour!

DIY substitutions don't really cut it, and AP flour will not create doughnuts with that same soft texture. Also, bleached cake flour will work best. Unbleached (like King Arthur Baking) won't absorb as much moisture, and you may end up with doughnuts that crumble while frying.

If you're eating a jelly- or a cream-filled doughnut, you are eating a yeast doughnut. Of course, the pinnacle of the yeast doughnut variety is the Original Glazed made by Krispy Kreme (more below). Cake doughnuts, on the other hand, are denser—dare we say, cakier—and better for dunking in your coffee.

Jelly Doughnut

Jelly doughnuts are traditionally a yeast doughnut without a hole in the middle, as the fruit-filling gets piped into the center.

Marge explains that he ate the entire wedding cake by himself… before the wedding. On the back Homer pledges his soul to Marge, and the jury finds that his soul is the property of Marge, not the devil's. The devil begrudgingly agrees, but instead of taking Homer's soul, he turns his head into a big donut.

donut hole (plural donut holes) The empty space in the center of a donut. (US, Canada) A small ball-shaped pastry, made in the same manner as a donut, roughly the size of the hole in a donut.

Bavarian cream involves milk, eggs, sugar, and often vanilla extract, the same as Boston cream. But then the two ingredient lists diverge: Bavarian cream includes heavy cream and gelatin, while Boston cream involves cornstarch.

What makes a donut a donut? ›

A doughnut or donut (/ˈdoʊnət/) is a type of pastry made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty vendors.

Flavorful Dough: The dough should be light, fluffy, and slightly sweet. It should have a delicate balance of flavors with a hint of vanilla or a touch of nutmeg. The texture should be soft, airy, and slightly chewy.

At their most basic, doughnuts are made from a dough that is typically a mixture of flour, water, sugar, eggs, and a leavening agent, which is usually yeast or baking powder. The dough is then shaped into circles or other shapes, fried in hot oil until golden brown, and then coated in sugar, glaze, or other toppings.

While many prefer the light and crispy texture of a fried donut, leaving the deep fryer in the cabinet and baking your cake donuts instead makes for healthier, less oily donuts. It's also safer and easier to clean up, given that you don't have to deal with lots of hot oil.