Go to the Recipe: Old-Fashioned Doughnuts
You can mix by hand in a large bowl or pull this off using a food processor and pulsing to mix for about 45 seconds.
What are a great substitute for those who want to make these donuts but aren't able to afford a stand mixer?
If I wanted to use this recipe in a donut extruder/dropper, how do you suggest I modify it to make the dough more batter-like? I added buttermilk and it didn’t get me close to the texture I had when I used the recipe as is for rolling and cutting. I know it interrupted the leavening/fat ratios.
I loved the recipe but really want to use my donut batter depositor for it moving forward. Any suggestions?
Thank you for this recipe. Made the donuts and they are really great. Really doesn’t need a glaze they are good plain. I added some nutmeg, and extended the cooking time a bit. Kept them on a floured cookie sheet in the freeze while cooking 2 at a time.
Some complained they were too sticky. With a little flour the are dough is soft enough to just press out to 1/2”. No need for a rolling pin.
I found with a 15-20 seconds more cooking time on the first side, gets that typical broken top.
They are absolutely easy to make and the recipe is perfect.
Mine didn't taper?
I made them, I'm in the UK! they were just fine. I will make personal spice changes next time though. It was very sticky as you say, but i used the plastic wrap trick and that made it so it didnt get messy. They fried best at room temp, not cold, next time i'll use slightly higher temp or upgrade to a home fryer. Used Sainsbury sour cream, i'm american and there isn't a difference. Worth a try! Britsh donuts aren't very nice so this was a very nice treat!
No, it's not. IDY can be added to dry ingredients as is, whereas ADY must be activated in water with some sugar normally. Amounts do not transcribe, either. BUT... there's no yeast in this recipe!
Seems like too much salt
Can I freeze it? if so, what would you recommend about frying? Thank you!
Omg....it’s the same thing.
Check out our rosti activity, add some grated onions and you're there.
Planning to use this recipe again for some hanukah donuts. Any plans for a latke recipe? Would make my fiance happy..
My very first doughnuts. I’m obsessed. Surprisingly, I had no trouble making them. Experimented with temps and 170 C is perfect. Thank you for the amazing recipe.
I am UK based and I am normally a very good baker who gets things spot on, but this was an EPIC FAIL. I followed the recipe, and put the dough in the fridge at 1 degree celsius for 1 hour, and yet, the dough was still so ridiculously sticky i couldnt work with it at all. It may be "british" style soured cream, who knows but I've wasted all this money and time and I'm pretty angry. Also, I had purchased maple extract off ebay.co.uk, and tried to make the glaze, and it absolutely sticks like some horrible chemical and NOT maple flavour. Nor did it change the colour to a maple colour. So if you aren't based in the UK, dont bother making this it wont work. Ruined my day, cheers for that
Hello I can’t ever find active dry yeast around. All I find is instant dry yeast. How do I substitue ?
Hey Mina! These are sour cream donuts. You want cake drop donuts.
Whats the difference between a cake doughnut and a old fashioned doughnut? Is there a way to modify this recipe to achieve a more cake like doughnut such as sidecar (http://www.sidecardoughnuts.com)? All the doughnuts they make are cake doughnuts but all look much more uniform than and old fashioned
Any recipe info on chocolate versions of this recipe?
Any suggestions for alt ingredients to make this a vegan old-fashioned?
Just found this site... love it... any hopes of posting a recipe for chocolate?
Can I go up to step 7 and leave the donuts overnight in the fridge and fry in the morning?
How many blueberries would I add to make these blueberry old fashioned donuts?
I made these donuts today, substituted sour cream for plain Greek yogurt since I didn't have any sour cream. They turned out awesome, I did have to vary the frying time towards the end because the dough started to warm I think, but that was just because I wasn't frying them at a quick pace as it was my first time trying the recipe. But alas, great recipe as always guys. Also made the yeasted donuts but didn't snap a picture of those ones, I will next time, because there will be a next time. Many thanks to the ChefSteps team.
I made these today and they came out perfect - lovely flavor and texture. I got the split on the top, but it wasn't as deep as I was hoping for. Any suggestions or tricks for achieving those deep crevaces?
I used this recipe for my first donut experience and I loved it so much that I'm afraid to try any new one! The video is also so helpful to give a visual for what the dough should look like at each stage THANK YOU!
Just thought I'd point this out to my fellow Canadians...those Ganache bars are also available in Canada from a Montreal Supplier, www.dr.ca. Check them out if you want fancy metallic bars like they use in the video.
Enjoyed this, easy to make and simple ingredients plus a lot of variety with glaze. My thought on the process, i ended up with oil that was a bit hotter than 170c, so i turned down the heat and by the time i put the final (4th in my case) nut in, the oil was pretty much dead on 170c and i think that one turned out the best. The crust blew up a lot more than the ones that was dropped in the hotter oil. So next time i will try to stabilize the oil at 170c before i start.
Just a quick question. 340°F seems kind of low to me for a deep frying temperature. What was the determining factor in the final product that made that your oil temp of choice?
Made these today for Hannukah and they were FANTASTIC! tried out a few other old fashioned donut recipes that just did not cut it. Thanks for an awesome recipe! i have had this style donut that had a little nutmeg. how much would you suggest i add for one full recipe?
For anyone looking for "Pastry Bars", I have found that they are primarily called Ganache / Caramel / Confectionery / Ruler Bars. The best set I was able to find was here:
https://www.tcfsales.com/products/658-ganache-and-caramel-ruler-bars-set-of-2-ea/
These are professional quality solid stainless-steel bars, in a variety of sizes, at a reasonable price (for professional tools).
See the note after yours. I ran out of sour cream in the middle of the night and used 1 part sour cream to 2 parts whipping cream. You might try using whipping cream for the liquid volume and adding something tart to give it a little bite, like lime or lemon juice and/or zest. Worth a try. The whipping cream partial substitution came out fabulous.
Hey, "Old Fashioned", these are freakin' great. I made the first two batches by recipe and was overjoyed and hadn't intended a modification then I ran short on sour cream and used 140 gm sour cream (all I had scraping corners of the cup) and 240 gm whipping cream to make up the volume. Try it some time. Rich, creamy, beautiful crumb, definitely a substitution made out of necessity that really popped. I topped half with chocolate and half with vanilla glazes. It's the first time I've seen my 6-year old daughter completely bypass chocolate anything. She slaughtered the vanilla glazed ones. The taste match with the whipping cream in the donut was freakishly awesome. Let me know what you think, please, if you give it a shot.
Thanks for all that y'all do here. Be well. Be happy. Smile too much. - w
I should add that when I used the whipping cream, I did actually give a go with a whisk just to give "something more than a liquid consistency" something close to what might be called "soft peak but not quite, having a massive 'jiggle' to the volume when lightly shaken side-to-side." Probably not necessary but it seemed like a good idea at the time and that's what I did. Then i combined it with the sour cream and had ready to add to the recipe in the same manner, all at once.
Hello! Is there an alternative to sour cream that I can use?
I made these yesterday with RAVING reviews!! BUT my dough was soo sticky! I added so much flour! Just wondering what I might have done wrong!
After rereading the instructions my guess is oil temperature.
Thanks for the reply. I am trying to reduce the overly powerful fried flavor that I got with my donuts. It was too much, if I recall correctly then turned out a bit more greasy than I expected since so many people recommend for frying donuts for neutal flavor and less greasy.
I believe the oily flavor comes from using brand-new unused oil. In restaurants, after the fryer is filled with brand new oil, a large batch of something starchy and slightly moist (tortilla chips, frozen egg rolls, etc) will be fried in the oil to 'season' it. Chemically, steam released from these foods during frying break down (hydrolyze) the fat triglycerides into free fatty acids adding lots of 'deep fried' flavor to the oil, in addition to color and volatile flavor compounds from the fried items (maillard products). If you want that authentic deep fried flavor, you need to season your oil with a batch of starchy food before frying your donuts.
I just made these old fashioned donuts. very happy with how they visually look, my only complaint is that the canola oil taste in them is too strong. I am noticing that some of the flavors mellow as they cool. Does this have to do with how hot the oil is? I was between 340 and 350. Texture of these are great.
