Ferroni - Doughnuts: 90 simple and delicious recipes to make at home

When I was growing up, doughnuts were the exception, not the rule. They were reserved for one very special time: the road trip. Each summer our family of four would pile into our ridiculously small car and head out across the country to visit an aunt or cousin or grandparent. Trips going west meant little boxes of sugared cereal eaten at a roadside Holiday Inn. But trips northward meant the best thing imaginable to my eight-year-old self: Dunkin Donuts.

My brother always ordered the chocolate dipped. I would stand on my tiptoes and carefully examine each flavor, imagining how the pastry would feel and taste as I took my first bite. Despite careful deliberation, I always decided between the same two flavors: the Chocolate Kreme Filled and the Dunkin Donut. The Dunkin Donut was about as simple as it gets: an old-fashioned cake doughnut with a hint of spice ingeniously shaped with a handle for dipping into a fresh cup of joe. I never actually dunked my doughnut, but I liked the little handle anyway. The Chocolate Kreme Filled was a fluffy raised doughnut filled with almost fluffier milk-chocolate frosting and coated with powdered sugar.

While Ill always love those doughnuts, my tastes have also expanded. My husband, who hails from Hamilton, Ontario (the birthplace of Canadas famous doughnut shop Tim Hortons), turned me on to the ethereal Honey Cruller. When I lived in Seattle, it was hard to avoid the temptations of Top Pot (Raspberry Glazed Chocolate Old Fashioned!) and Mighty-O (French Toast!), and all too easy to make a quick drive north of the city to Frost (Bourbon Caramel Pecan!). When we moved to Portland, we indulged in Voodoo Doughnuts wonderfully crazy creations, like the Dirt, and Blue Stars Crme Brle doughnut with a Cointreau injection. Now that we are living in DC, its all about Sugar Shacks eclectic flavor of the moment, like the seasonal Harry Potterthemed Butterbeer doughnut (insider tip: Sugar Shack churns out new batches and flavors all day, so ask for whatever just came out), and Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken, where you can get a fried chicken sandwich with honey and hot sauce on an Old Bay doughnut. We even traveled to San Francisco to gorge on Dynamo Donuts eclectic varieties and, of course, sampled the offerings at New Yorks Doughnut Plant, and Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop.

Being surrounded by all those glorious pastries made me wonder if maybe, just maybe, I could make doughnuts at home. The notion of a fresh, warm doughnut pushed me past my initial deep-frying anxiety. How glad I am that it did! Making doughnuts is far simpler than I could have imagined, and my fear of hot oil was quickly banished. Before long I was dreaming up flavors for my own sinfully satisfying doughnuts, and was lucky enough to share the best of those recipes in the first edition of this book.

While a few years have passed, here I am, still fascinated with developing new techniques and flavors for homemade doughnuts, and still delighted to share them with you. In this second edition, youll find new doughs, glazes, toppings, and fillings to mix and match. So go ahead, treat yourself. Youll be happy you didand so will those around you!

DOUGHNUT BASICS

Before you get started with your first batch of dough, I encourage you to read through this section for an overview of doughnut making and general tips and tricks on ingredients and tools.

HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED

The first section of recipes is all about the basics of doughnut making. In it, youll find recipes for raised and cake doughs, including chocolate doughs, doughs that can be baked instead of fried, and doughs for vegan and gluten-free diets. Youll find many well-known specialty doughslike old-fashioned sour cream, ricotta, apple cider, and French crulleras well as some that are less familiar, like picarones from Peru and malasadas from Portugal. Youll also find recipes for basic glazes that work with these doughsmix and match to your hearts content.

For something a little more special, turn to the , where youll find even more interesting combinations, from Apple Pie to Crme Brle. Each of these recipes refers back to a dough recipe type. Pick the dough that works best for you (traditional, baked, vegan, or gluten-free), then follow the recipe as directed.

If youre planning ahead, it is worth noting that unfilled, unglazed doughnuts can be frozen once they are cooled. To reheat, microwave for eight to ten seconds.

A note for those cooking vegan and gluten-free doughnuts: Not all of the variations on the basic recipes include vegan or gluten-free instructions, but most should be easily convertible by using readily available substitutions. Gluten-free doughnuts can be a bit harder to fill than their wheat-based counterparts because by their very nature they are denser. To make things a bit easier, use a chopstick to hollow out the middle of the doughnut before using the piping tip.

INGREDIENTS

For best results, all your ingredients (including milk, eggs, yogurt, sour cream, and butter) should be at room temperature when they are used.