[intro music]
Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen I'm bringing you a
doughnut recipe! I've been having these requested here for so, so long.
I'm making Jelly Doughnuts!
They're easy, they're a crowd pleaser, and I love them! I love doughnuts, I only make
them once in a while, it's really not something I buy often, I just really enjoy making them
and eating them fresh, so I figured today was the day because I wanted some jelly doughnuts!
The ingredients you'll need to make the donuts are very few and basic, you'll need all purpose
flour, a pinch of salt, I've got some melted vegetable shortening and some melted unsalted
butter, an egg, some milk that's been warmed up and I've got some sugar and some yeast.
That's it!
Let's get started. We're going to get going on activating the yeast. I've got my milk
here, about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
I'm going to sprinkle over my yeast and I'm also going to feed it by giving it a teaspoon
of sugar.
Mix that around and I'm going to set that aside for several minutes or until the yeast
is - you'll be able to smell it when it's activated and it gets all foamy and bubbly
on top and that's when you know that you are ready to get going.
Mix your salt with your flour, so that that's completely ready to go.
And now in this bowl, this - I'm going to make this in my standing mixer because it
does need to knead for a while, so in the bowl of my standing mixer, I'm just going
to add my vegetable shortening that I've melted.
I popped that right into the microwave, along with my unsalted butter.
And then I'm going to add in my egg, and this is really my all-purpose, like plain donut
dough. It just works really, really well and my glazed donut recipe - this is the same
dough I used, I just doubled the batch when I did those.
But, it's just really perfect, it works really, really well, and if it ain't broke, don't
fix it!
So I'm just going to give these a quick little mix, I'm going to clean up, wait for my yeast
to activate, and then we'll put the whole thing together. We'll get it kneading, and
we'll be that much closer to getting these ready to eat!
You can see my yeast is activated and it's super important when you're working with a
yeast dough that your yeast is activated. So often, whether it's a doughnut recipe or
my cinnamon rolls, or any dough that requires - any dough that's a yeast dough, I get so
many e-mails from people saying that the dough didn't work out, it's really hard and didn't
rise. And chances are it's because your yeast is not activated.
And that can be a number of factors that can make that happen, I mean, your liquid, in
this case might not be hot enough, might be too hot and kill the yeast, or the yeast might
be expired.
So, you need to be careful and make sure your yeast is activated, that way you will get
a great dough every single time.
I've added my yeast mixture, I'm adding my flour and just kind of giving this a quick
stir with my spatula right before I put it - I get it to kneading.
I'm going to put my dough hook on and I'm going to knead this on medium speed for about,
I'd say, 5-6 minutes, you want a really nice smooth dough, and it should only take about
5-6 minutes.
So I'm going to put this on, lift it up, and let it go!
My dough was kneading for about 5 minutes, and it's exactly how I want it, it's nice
and smooth.
It looks like a little on the tacky side, but it's not sticking to me as you can see.
But that's what I want, now I have my bowl here - that's the bowl I had my flour in and
I oiled it with just a little bit of vegetable oil, and just taking my dough scraper.
Now, I'm making a smaller batch, I halved the recipe in half because it's just my husband
and I, and I don't want to make too, too many donuts because I will eat them! hah!
So I'm just going to make some, and then I'm actually going to take these to - we're having
a little get together tonight with friends, so I'm going to take them there.
I oiled the top as well with whatever was left over on my pastry brush, and now I'm
going to cover this with plastic wrap and stick it somewhere warm, I"m just going to
put it in my microwave, with the microwave turned off, for about an hour or so, you want
this to double in size, and when it's there, we'll get going on rolling and cutting, and
moving forward!
My dough is about doubled in size, now this took a couple of hours, and it can take up
to three hours, so do not panic if it's not doubled in an hour, just give it some time
and make sure the spot is nice and warm.
I'm going to set that aside, I have a baking sheet here with a piece of parchment paper
and I've put a little bit of flour down, and now I'm going to take more flour and sprinkle
my board, I do have a fish spatula here because it's got a nice flat edge, it's going to be
just the thing I need to lift my doughnuts, once I cut them, and I have a three and a
half inch biscuit cutter, or you can use whatever you've got that's round, use that.
Okay, going to just deflate my dough.
Just like that.
And then I need to get it all out of here.
Just pull this together with my hands, and you can stretch it out with your hands if
you want to, I'm going to take a rolling pin and just get this out to about a half an inch
thick, now remember that I did cut the dough in half because I don't want to make too,
too many, because this girl will eat them all.
But you will have much more if you make the full batch, which is completely up to you,
so I'm just rolling this out and mushing it down with my hand, and you can see I'm kind
of flattening it, and then I'm also just getting it to be as even as possible.
I want this to be about half an inch thick.
Just going to take my biscuit cutter, I like to dip it in flour, and then cut out my little
doughnuts.
That's it!
It's that simple!
Now, I'm going to cover these with a lint-free kitchen towel, and I'm going to stick them
somewhere warm again, and they need to rise for about a half hour to an hour, or however
long it takes for them to double in size.
So, I'm going to put this right back there, it'll stay nice and warm, and in the meantime,
I'm going to get a heavy skillet, or a heavy pot, I'm going to fill it with some vegetable
oil, and bring that up to temperature to cook them in.
They look gorgeous, you know just by looking at them that they're going to be fluffy and
gorgeous.
I do have some vegetable oil up to temperature, I have a large pan, really heavy bottom pan,
halfway filled with oil.
Now, this is how I always tell it's the right temperature. You put the end of a wooden spoon
in, and I don't know if you can see, but there's little bubbles coming up.
You see little bubbles around the base of that?
That's how you know it's at the perfect temperature. If the bubbles are bubbling like ferociously,
that means it's over 350F.
You can use a thermometer if you want to.
Have we met?
Hah!
Chances are, I"m not going to!
Chances are, I"m just going to wing it because it works, and it's just easy for me to remember.
My grandma taught me that trick years ago, in fact if you watch our video of the graffe
I made with her, of the Italian donuts, she doesn't use a thermometer either.
So now I'm going to use my fish spatula because I'm going to lift each one.
And the reason I got a fish spatula is because I can tap a little bit and the flour, the
excess flour goes through the bottom of the fish spatula.
And I am going to just add them to my hot oil, you can see they are bubbling up really
nicely.
I am going to fry up just a few at a time, I don't want these to - I don't want the pan
to be overcrowded.
So I'm going to fry up about four at a time, and I also don't want the temperature of the
oil to go down, and then we'll get really soggy and oily doughnuts.
So I'm going to do four at a time, and I am going to cook these for about two minutes
per side until they're a beautiful golden-brown color.
What I have here is a baking sheet that I've lined with some paper towels, because these
are going to need to - I'm going to put them on there so that the oil can kind of seep
down into the paper towel.
And then I have a shallow bowl here with some granulated sugar, and I"m going to get some
jelly ready and we'll get going to put them together.
Shouldn't take very long, should take a minute or so per side, they're very quick to cook,
and then I'll do the next batch and I'll meet you back when they're all done!
Now, while the other batch is cooking up, I'm just taking the first batch that I just
let sit on my paper towels for just a couple minutes, and I'm dipping them in sugar. You
want to do this relatively quickly, while they're still hot because that way the sugar
sticks.
And then I always do it again after I pipe them with the jelly, but for now, I'm just
going to continue to babysit the rest of them and then we'll fill them up.
Now, what I'm doing, and I've already done a few of them, I take one of these - I guess
it's like a little lollipop stick or I think it's also known as a mini cake pop stick.
One of these little things, you can but them anywhere.
Or any object in your house that looks like this, hah!
I take it, and I make a little, sort of a little hole on one side, like that, and I
kind of just wiggle it around.
This is how I do it, I am not a factory, this is how it works for me.
Then I have a disposable piping bag with some strawberry jelly in it - strawberry jam - anything
- I wouldn't use preserves, because then it makes it a little bit too difficult to come
out of the tip.
And then I just pipe it right in.
And if a little bit comes out, perfectly fine!
And I just continue to do them all, it shouldn't take long at all, you'll just take a couple
of seconds.
Wow buddy!
They're delicious, and if you could just smell what I'm smelling in here, you would understand
why I'm trying to hurry!
They are all filled, and now what I do like to do is, I just like to go in and dip the
tops in a bit more sugar because I did disturb them a bit as I was filling them, but whatever.
I'm going to go right into it. I'm going to go with this one!
Hah, I'm so excited!
Anything on my face!?
Look!
Mmm.
Mmm!
Life is sweet!
Pun intended.
Mmm!
They are so much better than store-bought.
I'm laughing at myself because I know I'm covered in sugar.
But that's okay.
They are so much better than store-bought, they're fluffy, they're not too sweet, perfect
amount of jelly.
I mean nothing about these is bad, in any way shape or form!
If you want to make some outrageously good jelly doughnuts - I seriously feel like I've
got stuff all over me!
If you want to make some outrageously good jelly doughnuts, go to LauraintheKitchen.com,
get this recipe, I'm telling you, it is perfection!
Make them, tag me in a picture, I would love to see your re-creation, and I hope that you
have enjoyed these as much as we do and I will see you next time.
Bye!