Donuts

By: Raph Rashid
From: Hungry For That
Makes: 12 –14
Photographer: Lauren Bamford

I didn’t start drinking coffee until our first son, Tyke, was born. He would wake up super early and one morning I decided to dust off a little stove-top coffee pot that we had been given for a wedding present. Coffee had always seemed way too strong and bitter for my liking, and I didn’t see the value in adding lots of sugar and milk to change it. I usually just drank tea, but I loved the smell of coffee when it was being made.

Using the stove-top pot, I still found the coffee way too strong, even with a bit of water added to weaken it. I started to order coffees from various places around town to see how my home brews were stacking up. I honestly couldn’t tell. I found the coffee really harsh everywhere I went, unless it was white with a sugar. Lattes seemed to be the most popular and long blacks with extra water were getting no love.

I gave coffee a rest for a bit but the smell was so tempting that even bad coffee was hard to resist. Beci started doing some graphics for a coffee roaster called Seven Seeds. They introduced specialty coffee beans to Melbourne. I got to try a whole bunch of great coffees and realised that I love a pour-over (drip filter).

Now I drink coffee once a day and my favourite thing to have with coffee is a donut. I love coffee with donuts. Here’s a recipe that I think works perfectly.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1 1/4 tablespoons	dried yeast
1	egg
600g	plain flour
1 tablespoon	sugar
125ml	milk, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon	salt
2 teaspoons	natural vanilla extract
40g	butter, softened
	vegetable shortening or copha, for frying

Method

Mix 1 teaspoon of the yeast, 250 ml warm water, the egg and 225 g of the flour together with a whisk until smooth. Cover and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour or until small bubbles start appearing on the surface.
Combine this mixture with the remaining flour and yeast, the sugar, milk, salt and vanilla in a stand mixer with a dough hook and mix for 8 minutes on low speed. While the motor is running, add the softened butter. Continue mixing for another 2–3 minutes or until all the butter is combined and the dough forms a smooth ball. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough until it is 1 cm thick. Using a round cookie or donut cutter, cut 12–14 rounds. Use an apple corer to punch out a hole in the centre of each donut. Put the dough rings on a lightly floured sheet of baking paper. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside for another 30–40 minutes, or until the dough rings are nice and puffed up and have doubled in size again.
In a heavy-based saucepan, heat the vegetable shortening to 170–180°C, or until a cube of bread dropped into the shortening turns golden brown in 15 seconds. Fry the donuts for about 50 seconds on each side. Remove and let cool on a wire rack, then glaze and eat with coffee!