Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Donuts
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 1/4-2 1/2 cups Cake Flour plus more on-hand for for shaping. *See recipe notes
- 1 1/3 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/8 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 3/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup White Sugar
- 1 small Egg
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Real Vanilla Extract
- 1/3 cup Buttermilk
- 1 Tablespoon Sour Cream
Frying Oil
- 24-32 ounces Vegetable Shortening *See recipe notes
Icing
- 1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon Real Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 cup Water boiling hot
Instructions
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Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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In a medium-sized glass or ceramic bowl, gently melt butter in the microwave. Add brown and white sugars and whisk together.
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Add the egg and additional egg yolk. Whisk until light and fluffy. Add buttermilk and sour cream, whisking until well blended and no lumps of sour cream.
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Add wet ingredients to the dry, folding together gently until just blended. Be careful to not overmix. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough into a clean bowl to chill, covered in the frig for 2-12 hours.
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The dough should look like a soft, sticky cookie dough. If too sticky, add a couple of tablespoons more (up to a quarter cup, but no more).
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After chilling dough, add a fistful of cake flour onto a clean work surface. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the chilled dough out onto the floured surface. Pat dough out with floured hands to an approximate 16"x3 1/2" x1/2" rectangle. [Pictured in process, not yet finished pressing out.]
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Cut into 12, 3 1/2" bars. Cut bars in half for 24 squares. Slice a deep slit across the top of each square. With a dry brush, brush off any excess flour on both sides and set prepared dough squares aside on clean parchment paper.
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Add shortening to the dutch oven. Position your deep-fry thermometer and heat oil to 375 degrees.
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Quickly prepare the icing while the oil is heating. Add powder sugar, vanilla and hot water to bowl and stir together until entirely smooth. Set aside.
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Add donuts two at a time. After 50-60 seconds, turn the first two donuts and add two more. I usually pause with these first few, giving them several minutes before checking for doneness (adjust fry time accordingly).
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Rotate through the rest of the prepared dough, frying all the donuts.
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Dip the top side of warm doughnuts into the icing and replace them on the rack to cool.
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Donuts are best while still, the slightest bit warm, and for several hours after, on the day they are fried. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Essential Tools:
- A stainless-steel dough scraper.
- A natural pastry brush.
- A candy/deep-fry thermometer. I used one like this. Digital models may be easier to monitor like this one.
- A 4-5 qt dutch oven. I used my Lodge 4.5 qt enameled cast iron dutch oven. But a basic stainless-steel type like this would be adequate. The bigger your pot, the more shortening you'll need.
- A stainless-steel flexible fish turner or spider strainer.
- A stainless-steel cooling rack.
- Paper towels
Suggested Ingredients:
I like to keep these quality ingredients on hand for Buttermilk Doughnuts, having good success with King Arthur's Cake Flour and Spectrum's Vegetable Shortening (also found in major grocery stores). I do not recommend All-purpose Flour, Self-Rising Flour, or liquid Vegetable Oil substitutes for this recipe --I gave each of them a try with disappointing results.
Tips:
*Doughnuts will continue to cook a tiny bit after removing them from the hot oil. Give them a couple minutes before cracking one open to test doneness. Plan on a few mishap donuts until you get very comfortable with your tools, set up and maintaining oil temperature.
*This recipe can be doubled.
*The dough is super sticky, so it is essential to chill it before shaping into donuts --anywhere from 2-12 hours. I like to quickly make my dough just before bed, cover, slip it into the frig, and it's ready to work with in the morning.
*375 degrees is the optimal oil temperature for frying these donuts. However, 365-380 degrees is a workable range that will still give you potentially perfect donuts. Temps more or less than that --yipes! A seriously different story.
*Cool, filter, and store your shortening in the frig for another day. I use a coffee filter with a funnel to filter mine into a wide-mouth canning jar and cover it with a lid.
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