Baked Doughnuts

Baked Doughnuts

Baked Doughnuts [1]
From Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks [2]

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided into 1 cup and 1/3 cup)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
[I also used some brown sugar for the second batch]

1. Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast.
2. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture.
3. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated.
4. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. If your dough is too sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth.
5. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.
6. Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
7. Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop.
8. If you have a doughnut cutter, use that to cut the doughnuts, else use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. [I actually ended up using a small round plastic bowl with a relatively straight/sharp edge.]
9. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. [I actually used a melon baller to cut the inner circle, and transfered them after cutting. They distorted a little bit, but they were still managable.]
10. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.
11. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8.
12. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a different bowl.
13. Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two.
14. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl.

Gobble up and enjoy!

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