Doughnuts (donuts)

Doughnuts are delicious morsels of fried dough. They are crisp and crunchy on the outside; and amazingly soft on the inside. Traditionally doughnuts are formed into a ring; but you can make them in whichever shape you like! You can fill them with cream or fruit preserves; or glaze them with chocolate; or even just roll them in sugar and cinnamon. What I'm getting at is - doughnuts are versatile! This simple recipe can be tweaked according to your tastes; whatever they may be! The dough is made with dry yeast, and then left to rise till double. You then punch out the air; shape your fried goodness, and leave to double again. The only thing you need with this recipe is patience; everything else is easy peasy!

This recipe has been requested by my friend, Krishna :)

Ingredients -

• 300g Flour
• 4-5tbsp Sugar
• 1/2tsp Salt
• 50g Butter
• 1 1/2tsp dry Yeast
• 1 Egg
• 120ml warm Milk
• Oil, for deep frying

Mix the flour and yeast together in a large bowl. Rub the butter into it till the mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse bread crumbs. Mix the sugar and salt through this mixture. Create a well in the middle, and put the warm milk (not too hot or the egg will curdle; not too cold or the yeast won't activate) and egg into it. Bring the mixture together with your hands or a flat spoon/spatula, till you have a slightly sticky dough.

Sprinkle a little flour onto your platform or workspace, and place the dough on it. Knead the dough till it becomes smooth and has a small amount of elasticity in it. This will take about five to seven minutes. Put the dough in a large (lightly greased) bowl; and place in a warm, dark place till it has doubled in size. This will take about 2 hours (depends on the weather and the temperature of wherever you place the dough!).

Once the dough has doubled, punch it a little to remove the air; and roll out to 1cm thickness. Cut it in whichever shapes you want. I used a large glass for the main circle; and a bottle cap for the inner hole. You can use cookie cutters as well. Gather up the left-over dough, and keep rolling and cutting till you have used it all up!

Line a tray with some paper, and place the cut doughnuts on it. Cover the tray with a clean tea-towel and place in a warm, dark place till they have doubled in size.

Heat up your oil in a deep wok. When you put in a small amount of dough it should color immediately and swell up slightly. Fry 2-3 doughnuts at a time; being careful not to overcrowd the wok. The doughnuts will only take about 30-40 seconds a side; remove from the oil when they are golden brown all over. Place on some tissue paper to soak up any excess oil.

You can roll the doughnuts in a mixture of ground cinnamon and icing sugar; or glaze them with some melted chocolate and sprinkles. You can also use a piping bag to 'inject' fruit preserves or whipped cream into them. Enjoy!

Note - I don't know how long these last as they got gobbled up in 15 minutes flat :)