Sourdough Doughnuts

These are the most delicious doughnuts I have had for quite some time! They are light, aerated, and have the most beautiful flavor! which is brought out wonderfully by the subtle sourdough flavor.

This recipe makes 18 doughnuts and 15 or more doughnut holes.

Even if you have never deep fried anything before, I encourage you to give these a go. Despite the long process, they are remarkably easy to make.

Happy cooking! :)

To make your sourdough doughnuts you will need:

• 224g sourdough pre-ferment (find the recipe for the pre-ferment here: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Sourdough-Bread/ )
• 400g flour
• 100g milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 60g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vamila essence
• 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 50g melted butter

For the sugar-spice coating you will need:

• Around 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

You will also need some oil, We used 1 litere of coconut oil but you can use whatever oil you like, just make sure the oil is about 5 centimeters deep in your pot, and check the ideal deep fry temperature of the specific oil you are using.

Mix the sugar, egg yolks, melted butter, vanilla essence and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the pre-ferment, flour, milk and egg mixture together until it starts to clump together.

Dump out the mixture and knead until if forms a ball. Continue kneading for about 15-20 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp tea-towel. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 5 hours.

Stretch the dough out until it is about 1-cm thick. This should be quite easy as the dough is very soft and pliable. I used a 8-cm cutter but you could use any size you like.

Take the off cuts and gently knead together. Then stretch out and cut as before. I made some of the doughnuts with holes and some without, and then quite a few doughnut 'holes'.

Mix about 3/4 cups of sugar together with 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Set this aside in an easily accessible place for when cooking doughnuts.

In a pot, heat the oil. The temperature for deep frying with coconut oil is 180 degrees Celsius.

Once the oil has reached the correct temperature, slowly lower the doughnuts in a few at a time. When the underside of the doughnuts is golden brown (this should take less then one minute), turn them over and cook for a few more seconds. When fully golden brown, take out of oil, drain for a few seconds on a rack or paper towels, then toss in the sugar-spice mix.

Just see how tasty these's look! When I made these doughnuts it was late at night, so most of them were left over and they were just as good if not better the next day. Sliced in half, spread with jam and smothered with whipped cream, mm mmm!

I hope you make these, let me know how it goes!