Doughnuts

Got to be one of the most classic kiwi bakery treats. No one can say no to a freshly deep fried doughnut! It's easy enough to achieve at home if you are willing to deep fry. Prepare the dough a day ahead so you can have doughnuts ready in no time!

Makes 8-10 doughnuts

Dough

50g butter

1 cup milk

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup caster sugar

10g or 2 tsp instant yeast (check the expiry!)

465g plain flour

10g salt

1L neutral oil (e.g. rice bran, vegetable, canola)

Cinnamon Sugar

1 cup caster sugar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

To Serve

Whipped cream

Jam (heated in the microwave or on the stove briefly to liquify)

Icing sugar

The night before or 90 minutes in advance:

Heat butter, milk, water and sugar in a small pot on low heat, until butter is melted and mixture is just warm to the touch but not hot. Remove from heat, check the temperature, it should be lukewarm. If too hot, transfer to a bowl to cool a little. Stir through yeast and allow to sit for 15 minutes, until bubbly.

Add flour and salt to a large bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer) make a well in the centre and slowly add milk mixture. Mix to combine using a wooden spoon (or using the dough hook of your mixer).

Once the mixture becomes stiff and hard to stir, lightly flour a clean surface and turn out dough (or continue to knead in your mixer). Knead the mixture until it is no longer sticky to touch, about 10 minutes.

Shape dough into a ball and place into greased bowl. Cover with a tea towel and allow dough to rise for at least 1 hour or overnight, until doubled in size.

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Once dough has risen, flour your work surface and rolling pin with a little flour. Roll out dough to about 1-2cm thick. Cut into rings with a cup/cookie cutter and use piping nozzle or a clean bottle cap to cut out the doughnut hole.

If making long doughnuts, cut into rectangles, small enough to fit into your frying pot.

Save the off-cuts to use to test the heat of your oil, or smush them all together to make one big fritter.

In a medium-sized pot, heat about 3cm of oil. The oil should be about 170°C. But don't worry if you don't have a thermometer, use your off-cuts of dough to test the heat, turning it down if they brown too quickly. Larger doughnuts should cook for about 1-2 minutes each side (they are rolled pretty thin so won't take too long to cook).

Transfer cooked doughnuts to paper towels to drain off, then toss in cinnamon sugar. 

To make the jam & cream doughnuts, you must let the doughnuts cool down, or the cream will melt everywhere. Cut down the centre of the doughnut, almost all the way through. Fill the cut with cream and top with jam. For the traditional kiwi bakery look, dust with icing sugar.