The October 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.
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I can’t say I eat many doughnuts these days, though I have glorious memories of midnight college Krispy Kreme runs. Hot doughnuts practically melting in my mouth? Good heaven.
So when I saw this challenge, I was convinced that it would be complete ecstasy. Homemade is always better than commercial, right?
Meh.
I used the Alton Brown yeast doughnut recipe for this challenge. While I didn’t have any of the challenges I anticipated (overly sticky dough, sputtering oil, burning my first few batches), I just didn’t like the flavor of the doughnuts all that much. After reading Audax Artifex‘s post in the forums, I increased the sugar from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup; I’m not sure that even 1/2 cup would have been enough. They had a really lovely texture (very light and crisp on the outside, airy inside, not too greasy), but I thought they were pretty bland. I used a powdered sugar and cream glaze to dress them up, but even that didn’t improve them much for me. This was almost a relief, actually, because I wasn’t tempted to eat them all!
I’m glad to have the experience of making doughnuts and I may try again, but I’ll use a different recipe. Thanks for organizing the challenge, Lori!
Recipe link: Yeast Doughnuts
I am sorry that these didn’t live up to your donut memories and expectations, but I must say – they look fantastic and your photo is beautiful.
I’m glad to know that I wasn’t the only one disappointed with this challenge. It just wasn’t as awesome as I wanted it to be. I guess there’s a reason Krispy Kream is so popular, huh?
Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out exactly as you expected, but they look so great!!! Maybe adding some spice to the dough and to the icing…? Thanks for your kind comment on my post!
Sorry to hear that the yeast doughnuts didn’t suit your taste buds. Yes this recipe isn’t sweet at all and really needs a lot of icing if you have a sweet tooth. I’m very impressed with the photo they look perfect. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
They look so pretty with the glaze! Even if they didn’t taste fantastic, they still look professionally done. Excellent work!
The doughnuts really do look picture perfect and the glaze is perfect. I had a bit of trouble with my glaze – either too thick or too thin! ~Nicola
I’m a bit jealous that you didn’t like them–I loved them all and ate way too many! Your doughnuts do look perfect, and that glaze is gorgeous.
Can I have one please? Those look so good. It’s not right how much I want a donut. Alton Brown is a genius. He really makes complicated recipes accessible.
I doubled the amount of sugar in the dough, too, because I thought it’s not enough for this huge amount of flour and it was great
Your glaze looks so great – so smooth and not pouring anywhere.
Thanks for the kind comments, everyone! The doughnuts were a big hit at my husband’s office, so I think I was just in a fried food funk that day.