Spiced Doughnuts

And sweet milestones

I don’t know about your house but it’s hot here — wet, muggy, and buggy. If I’m baking, it’s early in the day and, while I want nothing more than a year of Julys, a week of lower humidity would be good for the green fur growing on our deck rug.

But for some things, it’s worth heating up the kitchen. These sourdough- and yeast-risen doughnuts are fun to make and even more fun to watch others eat. Want to be surrounded by smiles and showered with compliments? Grab a bowl and start mixing. Happy summer, Martin.

I don’t fry. It stinks up the house, old oil is a hassle, and honestly, there just isn’t anything I want to eat that’s worth the effort and cleanup.

Except doughnuts. Bear claws, fritters, and Bavarian cream; honey bun, old-fashioned, cake, or cruller — sometimes only fried dough will do.

We spent this past Memorial Day weekend at my in-laws celebrating my daughter Anthem’s high school graduation. A special dinner of crisp fried chicken, garlicky caesar salad, baked macaroni and cheese, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting was prepared with many hands to help feed a crowd of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It was a meal worthy of her high school effort and all that awaits in college and beyond.

After the meal I saw that we had a couple quarts of frying oil. Not wanting them to be wasted, and knowing the crowd would return the next morning for breakfast, without thinking I said, “Maybe I’ll make some doughnuts tomorrow morning…” Once you’ve said something like that, it’s not a thing that can be retracted.

So I pulled up an adaptable base recipe I've used before, and set about gathering ingredients.

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Yeast- or sourdough-leavened doughnuts are essentially enriched bread dough. They live on a continuum that ranges from milk dough (relatively low quantities of butter and eggs) all the way up to brioche (maximum butter and eggs) with options for sourdough and a million other iterations in-between. Doughnuts are bread.

And if we treat them as such, bringing our attention to the quality of fermentation (yes yeast, yes sourdough, yes time), and the quality of ingredients (good butter, beautiful flours, freshly ground spices), a piece of sweet fried dough can become the best thing you’ve ever eaten.

So, considering the doughnut as bread, here’s what went through my head as I tweaked the base recipe.

First, flavor. What can be done to boost the flavor of the dough? As with any bread, I start with fermentation. In addition to yeast for lightness and loft, I added sourdough culture as a counter to the sugar and sweetness.

Building on this, I added another layer to the flavor stack with whole spelt from Maine Grains. Spelt will bring depth, beautiful color, great vitamins and minerals for fermentation, and tenderness. Looking for aromatics I chose freshly ground nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, vanilla, a touch of black pepper, and molasses.

I mixed the dough, fermented for an hour, then gave it a pat and put it in the fridge to develop additional flavor and firm up overnight.

Day two. I removed the dough, patted and rolled it to about 3/8” thickness, cut circles, and heated the oil. While the doughnuts woke up (about 20 to 30 minutes), I prepared a spiced sugar to toss them in after frying: sugar, more fresh nutmeg and cinnamon, cocoa, black pepper, and salt.

Often with the hustle and bustle, the movement from late-with-this to behind-on-that, I fret right through the passage of things that should be paused for and honored. It happens more than I’d like. Anthem’s graduation, while impossible to miss physically, is worth such a stop. As she strode across the stage my mind superimposed old footage of her in my head — images of first steps, golden curls on a toddler head, a teenage driver pulling out of the driveway with no adult, a highly competent young woman clicking the button on her college commitment, and on and on. How does a seed become a tree? How did that heartbeat in the womb become someone so capable, compassionate, and complete, in so little time? I don’t know. But the pause — the silence, the wonder, the joy — is divine. And worthy of doughnuts.

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Spiced Doughnuts

Milk, warm (95 to 105°F), 211g
Yeast, dry, instant, 6g (1 t)
Sugar, 72g
Egg, whole, 72g (about 1 1/2 eggs)
Salt, 9g (1.5 t)
Sourdough culture, 112g*
Vanilla or whiskey, 9g (1.5 t)
Butter, soft, 40g
Molasses, 9g (1.5 t)

*For the culture either set aside some discard if you have it (I use liquid levain here but a stiff consistency could work, too), or make a preferment with 15g culture, 50g of whole wheat, rye, or spelt, and 50g of water. Set it to mature for 8 to 16 hours before use. If you don’t have sourdough, prepare the preferment substituting 1g or 1/4 t of yeast for the sourdough culture and let it ferment for 8 to 16 hours before use.

In a medium bowl whisk everything together and set aside while measuring the flours and preparing the spices. (My favorite tool for grating nutmeg and cinnamon sticks is a fine zester. It’s my go-to for hard cheese, citrus zest, ginger, etc. For larger things like star anise or other spices I have a coffee mill I got for a couple bucks at the thrift store.)

All-purpose flour, 405g
Whole wheat, rye, or spelt flour, 45g
Nutmeg, freshly ground, 5g (2 t) *Note that an average nutmeg seed weighs about 5g
Pepper, black, freshly ground, 0.5g (¼ t)
Cinnamon, freshly ground, 2.5g (1 t)

Add the flours, salt, and spices and stir to combine. The mixture will be soft and somewhat sticky. Use a spatula at first then switch to a flexible scraper, pressing and folding to smooth out the dough. Scrape down the sides. The mixture will be sticky — not something you’d want to knead by hand — and should measure between 75 and 80°F.

Soft, sticky, and perfect.

Cover well and place in a warm spot for bulk fermentation.

Perform bowl folds after 15 and 30 minutes then chill covered overnight.

Cut open after the cold rise, the dough will have visible signs of fermentation.

After the overnight chill, dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Lightly flour the top side of the dough and press with your hands to degas and flatten. Switch to a rolling pin, flouring the top and underneath as necessary to prevent sticking, and work the dough into a smooth, even circle about 14” in diameter and 3/8” thick.

Cut circles to a desired size. I like my 3.5” biscuit cutter. After cutting rounds remove the center holes with a small cutter, about 1 to 1.5” in diameter. (Yes, that’s an old medicine cup with the bottom punctured to let the air out.)

Place the pieces on a lightly floured bagel board or parchment-lined sheet tray to rise for about 30 minutes. For the scrap, press gently into a mass then re-roll after letting it relax for a few minutes. One note here, unless you want lots of doughnut holes, I add most of them to the re-roll pile and get a maximum number of doughnuts.

Sugar, granulated, 72g
Nutmeg, freshly ground, 2.5g (1 t) or about ½ of a whole nutmeg seed
Cinnamon, 2.5g (1 t)
Black cocoa, 1g (½ t), optional
Pepper, black, freshly ground, 1g (½ t)
Salt, fine, 3g (½ t)

While the doughnuts rise, heat the oil to 350°F. I like to use a 10” cast iron pan with about 1” of oil in it as my vessel. This requires about 1 quart of oil. During this time you should also prepare the finishing sugar and get your mise en place ready for after they are fried. I like to use a half sheet tray with a cooling rack on it and paper towels beneath the screen as a place to put the fried doughnuts. I set it on the stovetop adjacent to the fry oil to minimize drip or spill.

After about 20 to 30 minutes the doughnuts should feel like they are waking up a little. When pressed with a finger a slight impression should remain and the texture should be barely marshmallowy.

To fry, gently transfer the doughnuts into the oil (in my 10” cast iron I fry 3 at a time), being careful not to drop them into the oil.

Fry for 90 to 120 seconds on the first side, checking to ensure they aren't darkening too quickly, then gently invert to fry the second side. For the inversion, I like to use a slotted spoon and something like a chopstick in my other hand. Using two implements helps to reduce the chance of a splash/spill/flare-up situation.

Place on a cooling rack covered with paper towels or a kraft paper bag to remove excess oil then, after cooling briefly, toss in the sugar mixture.