How to make the best doughnuts you’ll ever eat

Fry, fry away

(iStock/The Washington Post)

There’s nothing better than a freshly-fried doughnut. The problem is getting to the bakery at exactly the right moment to snag it. So, here’s the plan: DIY doughnuts.

Clear off your counter tops, find a mixer and get out that canola oil. With these tips and a recipe for vanilla-glazed wonders, you’ll be in doughnut heaven in no time.

Make the dough the day before.

• The dough itself, based on a classic brioche recipe of mostly flour, eggs and butter, will come together in just 30 minutes — and that includes 15 minutes for the yeast to proof in warm milk.
• The mixture will seem too wet, almost like a cake batter. Do not lose heart.
• After 10 minutes, that soggy mass will meld into a supple, slightly sticky ball.

Proof, or ferment, the dough.

• The just-mixed dough rests for about 30 minutes in an oiled bowl at room temperature — covered with greased plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming — and refrigerated overnight, up to 15 hours. This is a crucial step.

Chill, roll and cut.

• Take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it rest for a few minutes before rolling and cutting.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle and then use a square cutter. This will yield fewer scraps. (Rerolling is not optimal for this doughnut dough.)
• Know this step can take a couple hours: Get up early, cut the doughnuts and then go have some coffee and check your news feed.
• Put the proofed doughnuts in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes before frying, as a way to help them hold their shape

Fry, fry away.

• Let the doughnuts rise on individual squares of greased parchment paper. Once it’s time to fry, you can slide both the doughnut and its parchment into the hot oil, and then remove the paper with tongs. That way the doughnut will hold its shape; otherwise, trying to move it with a spatula might deflate it before it hits the oil.
• A wok works well because its wide expanse gives the frying doughnuts room to expand, yet its belly is shallow enough for doughnuts to slip in and be easily retrieved.
• You’ll need a thermometer — preferably one that clips to the side of the pot — so that you can keep an eye on the oil temperature.
• For the home cook who might be frying two or three doughnuts at a time, it’s better to err on the side of keeping the oil slightly cooler, about 330 degrees.
• Flip, and flip. Repeat. Fry for a few seconds on one side (once the paper has floated free), then gently turn the doughnuts over. (Gas and induction burners required different timing and turns.) Transfer the doughnuts to a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet to cool for a bit.

Time to glaze.

• The glaze should be at room temperature.
• Coat the doughnuts on all sides by dunking them in the glaze one at a time.
• Do this while the doughnuts are still a bit warm, yet cool enough not to collapse under the weight of that gloriously thick liquid sugar.
• Set them back on the rack to drain.
• Wait for the glaze to set. This can take up to an hour.

Vanilla-Glazed Brioche Doughnuts

Makes 24 doughnuts, plus holes

A kitchen scale makes the dough easier to put together. You’ll need a 3-inch doughnut cutter and a small cutter for the center holes. You’ll have fewer scraps to reroll when you use a square cutter or a sharp knife and a ruler to measure 3-inch squares. You’ll also need an instant-read thermometer.

Any remaining dough can be kept in a freezer-safe zip-top bag with as much air pressed out of it as possible, for up to 2 months. The glaze can be refrigerated for up to several weeks; bring to room temperature and stir or beat to make smooth again before using.

Scraps or the rest of the brioche dough can be given a savory treatment.

Make ahead: The dough needs to rise twice; the first time, for 6 to 15 hours (preferably overnight), then for 1 to 2 hours after it has been rolled and cut. The glazed doughnuts are best eaten the same day they are made, but they do hold up for a day stored, uncovered, at room temperature. The frying oil can be cooled, strained and reused.

Ingredients

For the doughnuts

→ 227 grams whole milk (1 cup)
→ 21 grams (2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) dried yeast, preferably SAF brand
→ 21 grams warm water (105 degrees; 2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon)
→ 750 grams flour (5 1/2 cups plus 2 1/2 tablespoons), plus more for rolling
→ 113 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
→ 14 grams kosher salt (2 1/2 teaspoons)
→ Scrapings of 1 vanilla bean (may substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste)
→ 3 large eggs plus 5 large egg yolks (about 240 grams total)
→ 285 grams unsalted butter (20 1/2 tablespoons), at room temperature
→ 2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying

For the glaze

→ About 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
→ 1/2 to 3/4 cup hot tap water
→ Generous 1/2 cup vanilla extract
→ 2 teaspoons kosher salt
→ Scrapings of 1 vanilla bean

Steps

For the doughnuts: Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat, to 105 degrees. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and add the water; let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes. It will thicken.

Combine the flour, granulated sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the yeast mixture, vanilla bean, eggs and egg yolks; beat on medium-low speed to form a shaggy mass with no visible dry ingredients.

Add the butter in three additions, waiting until each one is well blended before adding the next. Beat until the dough looks somewhat smooth.

Switch to a dough-hook attachment. Beat/knead on medium-low speed for 10 minutes; the dough should look smoother still, and most of it will gather around the dough hook. To see whether gluten has developed, take a golf ball-size piece of dough and stretch it gently between your thumbs and first two fingers on both hands. If it doesn’t break or tear and stretches enough to create a somewhat transparent swath of dough, it’s good to go. If not, beat for another 5 minutes.

Grease a large bowl with cooking oil spray; scrape the dough into the bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap directly on the surface. Let sit for 30 minutes, then fold over to smooth the surface. Re-cover and refrigerate for 6 to 15 hours.

Uncover and transfer the dough to a floured work surface. If you wish to make just one batch, divide the dough in half (best to weigh it) and place the rest in a freezer-safe gallon-size zip-top bag, sealing it as you press out any air. Freeze for up to 2 months.

Flour the rolling pin. Press down the dough on the work surface and roll into a rectangle that’s about 9 by 10 1/2 inches; the slab should be about 1/2-inch thick. Let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut thirteen or fourteen 4-inch square pieces of parchment paper, then grease their tops lightly with cooking oil spray and arrange them on two baking sheets.

Use the 3-inch cutter or knife and ruler to cut 9 doughnuts, as close together as possible. Use the small cutter to cut out the doughnut holes. Place each doughnut on its own piece of parchment, and gather the holes on their own piece or two of parchment. Gather together the scraps and re-roll to a thickness of 3/4 inch (thicker than the first roll); cut 3 more doughnuts and corresponding holes, placing them on the papers and baking sheet like before.

Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours, in a draft-free spot; the doughnuts should almost double in height. (If the doughnuts rise in a turned-off oven that had been preheated to 170 degrees, they will rise faster.)

Meanwhile, make the glaze: Combine the confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup of the hot water, the vanilla extract, salt and vanilla bean scrapings in the bowl of a stand mixer or handheld mixer; beat on medium speed until smooth, adding some or all of the remaining hot water, as needed, to form a thick glaze. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Heat the oil in a wok over medium to medium-low heat (325 degrees).

Working with two or three at a time, slide the doughnuts on their papers into the hot oil; use tongs to pluck out the papers, which should float free within seconds. Flip the doughnuts right away; then turn them a total of four times over a total of 4 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.

Monitor the oil temperature and adjust the heat, as needed.

Use a Chinese skimmer to transfer the doughnuts to a wire rack set over paper towels to cool for 5 or 10 minutes. When you’re done with half of them, toss them one at a time into the bowl of glaze, turning to coat all over. Place on a second wire rack, seated inside a rimmed baking sheet, until the glaze has set.

Repeat to fry the remaining doughnuts and holes; glaze the rest of the batch the same way.

From a recipe by Neighborhood Restaurant Group executive pastry chef Naomi Gallego.

Tested by Kristen Hartke and Bonnie S. Benwick.

Original story by Kristen Hartke for The Washington Post.