Easy Saturday Morning Donuts!
We have been on this kick lately of making donuts on Saturday mornings. Since Saturday is the only day I really have to ‘laze around the house’ and make a scrumptious breakfast it typically is either these or Biscuits and Gravy. The thing I usually don’t like about making donuts is you have to get up early, make the dough, let it rise, shape the dough, let it rise, then fry it. This typically takes several hours and I don’t know about you, but when I get one day a week to sleep in I am not getting up at the crack of dawn to make donuts. Sorry kids. This concept changed EVERYTHING. So ya’ll have probably already heard about this book I am TOTALLY. IN. LOVE. WITH. called “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day” Here is the link if you would like to buy it: So the concept is, you make a big batch of dough by just dumping everything into a tub that has a lid. I mean JUST. DUMP. It’s totally awesome. No kneading. Just mix it up with a spoon so it’s about like biscuit dough. Let it rise and then pop it into the fridge to use whenever you feel like it. Personally I put it in the garage at the moment because even though it’s the end of April here in Montana – it’s pretty much still winter. Yesterday morning it was 18˚ outside. So this is still working for me and not taking up fridge space 
Anyway. So on Saturday morning when I wake up at 7 am and decide I want donuts (that’s sleeping in for me, insert whatever time you like) I can pop out of bed and whip them up in no time before I have to go feed animals. It’s great AND I can even grab an extra to take out to the barn with me! I just have to finish it before the goats see me or they’ll steal it. So I decided to roll the donuts this way after reading ‘Farmer Boy’ by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Almanzo talks about his mother rolling them this way because she didn’t have time to cut out fancy round donuts and cut a hole in them. Amen. 
That sounded like my kind of thing. Ok. Stop talking and lets get started.
FOR THE DOUGH- ¾ cup luke warm water
- ¾ tablespoon yeast
- ¾ tablespoon kosher salt
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup honey
- ¾ cup (1½ stcks) melted butter
- 3¾ cups all purpose flour (I often use half soft white whole wheat)
FOR MAKING THE DONUTS - oil or lard for frying
- 1 stick melted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- The night before or several days before you want these donuts, throw all the dough ingredients into a bowl or tub, stir them up, cover loosely and let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours.
- Move the dough to a cool area, like the fridge, until ready to use.
- When you are ready to eat donuts, for example on a Saturday morning, grab your dough. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about ¼" thick.
- The easiest way to cut it is to use a pizza wheel but a knife will work as well if you don't have a pizza wheel. Cut the dough into strips about 1" wide, maybe a little less.
- Grab a strip in the middle and twist until you have a rope of twisted dough. Set aside on a lightly floured surface and repeat until you have twisted all the strips (you can start heating the lard/oil NOW if you want save even more time but you do get skinnier donuts since they wont have as much time to rise - hence my skinny donuts pictured above. I have no patience).
- Once they are all twisted, start heating your oil or lard. I use lard personally and it's delicious, but you use what you are comfortable with or have. Heat to about 350˚.
- Once the lard is hot, add a few donuts. You don't want to crowd the pot because if you don't the donuts will actually flip themselves and you don't have to do anything - which is awesome.
- Once they are a deep golden brown, remove them and allow them to cool on a plate while you get the next batch frying.
- Once the next batch is in the pot, brush the cooked ones with melted butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and set aside and keep repeating the assembly line until they are all fried, buttered and sugared.
- Most likely by the time this is all done your family will have eaten their fill and you will get whatever is left.
- Sit, have a cup of coffee and a donut.
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[…] to keep on hand, all ready to be made into some delicious breakfast treat. Typically I fry it into doughnuts or make it into cinnamon rolls but I thought this sounded like a fun Fall […]