Make the Best Wedding Doughnuts

July 30, 2012 in
How-To's
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Heather Baird
Heather Baird

Heather Baird is an accomplished painter and photographer, but her passion is creating eye-popping, mouthwatering desserts. She writes about her adventures in the world of creative dessert-making on her award-winning blog, SprinkleBakes. She is the author of the new desserts book, Sea Salt Sweet, and her previous baking book, SprinkleBakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire your Inner Artist was published in 2012. Heather lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband Mark and two mischievous pugs, Biscuit and Churro.

Sprinklebakes
@sprinklebakes

Many brides are forgoing the formality of a wedding cake as dessert and opting for a fun, lighthearted alternatives, like doughnuts! Stack them high on a cupcake tower or cake stand and you’ve got an instant centerpiece (not to mention a conversation starter).

Buy doughnuts from your favorite bakery, or use the yeasted doughnut recipe here to make your own.  I use and recommend Red Star Active Dry Yeast for this recipe, which can be purchased at King Arthur Flour’s online shop.  I find that it has the most consistent results, as compared to grocery store brands.

Raised Doughnuts
Makes 25-30 doughnuts

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon active dry yeast, divided
2 cups whole fat half and half, heated to 110?F, divided
4 to 5 cups bread flour, divided
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Vegetable oil for frying
2 cups powdered sugar for coating

In a medium bowl, dissolve 2 tablespoons of yeast into 1 1/2 cups of half and half. Add 1 1/2 cups of the bread flour and stir until a smooth paste forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm spot for about 30 minutes.

While you wait for the paste mixture to rest, combine the remaining half and half and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir to combine. When the paste mixture has rested (and has risen a bit), add it to the mixer bowl along with the vanilla and egg yolks. Mix until smooth. Turn off the mixer, and add 2 cups of the remaining flour and top with the sugar and salt. Mix on low for about 30 seconds, or until the dough starts to come together. Add the melted butter and mix until  its incorporated, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Switch to a dough hook and add more flour gradually, about 1/4 cup at a time with the mixer turned off.

Knead the dough at medium speed between flour additions until the dough pulls completely away from the sides of the bowl and is smooth and not too sticky. (You may not have to use all the remaining flour.) The dough will be very soft. Put the kneaded dough into a large bowl that has been greased with shortening.  Turn the dough over to coat.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.  After it has rested, gently punch down the dough and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.

Line a baking sheet with a lightly floured tea towel, then lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness.

With 3 inch and 1 inch pastry rings or cookie cutters, cut out rounds with 1 inch diameter holes.  (You can use a soda pop bottle lid as a makeshift cutter if you don’t have a 1 inch cookie cutter.)

Place the doughnuts on the lined baking sheet 1 inch apart and cover with plastic wrap. Let them sit in a warm spot to proof until they almost double in size, about 30 to 40 minutes.

While you wait for the doughnuts to rise, heat a heavy-bottomed pot with at least 2 inches of oil until a thermometer registers 360?F. Keep an eye on that thermometer! It’s very easy for oil to overheat, so you may have to adjust the dial on your range to keep the heat at a steady temperature. I like to test the oil with a doughnut hole to see how fast it will brown before I begin frying the doughnuts.

Carefully place the cut doughnuts in the oil.  Fry doughnuts for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until a light golden color is achieved. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Let cool slightly.

Pour powdered sugar in a large zip-top bag. Add doughnuts a few at a time and gently shake inside the closed bag to coat. Remove doughnuts and store in an air-tight container. Re-coating the doughnuts with powdered sugar may be necessary if they are left to stand overnight.

Presentation

How do you make a pile of powdery doughnuts look cute? Stack them in graduated tiers, just like a wedding cake!

Begin by placing 6 doughnuts on a large cake stand. Add another 6 doughnuts directly on top, making the first tier two doughnuts high (if you have a large amount of doughnuts, you can make this and each consecutive tier 4-6 doughnuts high).

Position four doughnuts in the middle of the first tier and add another four directly on top, making the second tier two doughnuts high.

 Place two doughnuts stacked on top of each other in the center of the four doughnuts.

Finish with a sparkly heart, food-safe fresh flowers or another wedding topper of your choice.

All photographs by Heather Baird. Be sure to visit SprinkleBakes for more mouthwatering treats, or check out SprinkleBakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist, available from Amazon or an independent bookstore near you.

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

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