Making Yeast Doughnuts
Yeast, or raised, doughnuts aren't quite as quick to make as cake doughnuts, but their airy lightness is well worth the trouble. Plus, the process is really less about work than just waiting for the dough to rise.
Unlike the thick batter used to make cake doughnuts, yeast doughnuts are made from moist but rollable dough. It's similar to brioche dough and is lightly sweet, with some fat to keep the doughnuts tender. To make successful yeast doughnuts, it's essential to develop the gluten in the dough by kneading (ideally with a dough hook on a stand mixer) and to proof (or rise) the dough to help create the right size and number of air pockets. Not proofed enough, and your doughnuts will be heavy; too much, and you'll just end up with a hollow shell that collapses when taken out of the oil.
Deep-Frying Yeast Doughnuts
When fried, a perfect yeast doughnut will have a light ring around the center that's known as the "proof line." It happens because the air in the dough causes the doughnut to float just above the mid-point, so the top and bottom of the doughnut fry in the oil, while a ring around the middle sits just above. Raised doughnuts with a dark ring around the center haven't proofed quite enough or may have been made with yeast that is past its expiration date. The doughnut hangs lower in the oil, so the center cooks more than the top and bottom. They'll still be delicious, but they won't be as light as properly proofed doughnuts.
Baking Yeast Doughnuts
You can also bake yeast doughnuts, but they won't be the same pillowy bites as the fried version, and are closer in texture to fluffy dinner rolls. Like baked cake doughnuts, baked raised doughnuts require a little more fat in their recipe. They're at their best warm out of the oven and brushed with melted butter.
Adding a Filling
Yeast doughnuts are lighter than cake doughnuts, so adding mix-ins tends to weigh them down. Cutting a center hole does help them cook evenly, but yeast doughnuts puff up with lots of air pockets, making them prime for a jam, cream, or chocolate filling.
Use a chopstick to pierce the doughnut's crust, and wiggle it to create space for your filling. Then, using a pastry bag fitted with a long, pointed tip, inject each doughnut with filling. In addition to being turned into rings and filled doughnuts, yeast dough is great for shaping into bars and twists, or even for mixing in fruit to make homemade fritters.
Yeast Doughnut Do-Ahead Advice
You can easily freeze yeast doughnut dough. Make the dough, cut it into doughnut rings, and let it proof, then freeze the doughnuts, in a single layer, until solid. Wrap each doughnut in a double layer of plastic wrap or place a bunch of them in a plastic freezer bag. Be sure to fully defrost frozen doughnuts at room temperature before frying or baking.
‹ previous: cake doughnuts
next: frying & glazing ›
