Mia Cucina Su Cucina

My Mother does not enjoy cooking, but she enjoys making any recipe that includes yeast. As long as I can remember she has always made her puffy, tender, huge, yeasty doughnuts. Over time it became a tradition for her to make doughnuts on New Year’s Eve. Friends and family would come and stuff themselves with her fabulous confections. They are the best warm. They’re not as good the next day. The recipe I am including makes about 24 doughnuts. After the dough raises, before you shape the dough put half of it in the refrigerator. Bring the dough out the next day, shape the doughnuts, let them rise and cook in hot oil. Please note that I have not tried refrigerating the dough, so I cannot say how well it works.   

In 1994 I married a Dutch gentlemen (we later went our separate ways) and on our first New Year I was at a lost to how I was going to get my doughnut fix. I made mention of this concern to him and he quickly explain to me that his family did oliebollen. Oliebollen you say, well it is a traditional Dutch food. Oliebollen (literally oil balls) are a variety of doughnut made by using two spoons to scoop a certain amount of dough and dropping the dough into a deep fryer. In this way, a sphere-shaped doughnut emerges. The dough is made from flour, eggs, yeast, some salt, milk, baking powder and sometimes raisins or apple pieces. They were good, but they were not my Mom’s big fluffy doughnuts. (If you would like the recipe let me know.)

Yeast Doughnuts
(This is my Mother’s recipe that has been passed down from past generations.) 
2 cups warm milk
1 cup warm water
4 1/2 teaspoon yeast
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup of butter, soft
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
8 cups flour

Mix milk, water, yeast and sugar and let set for 5 to 10 minutes. Place the yeast mixture in a stand mixer bowl. Add the butter, eggs and 3 cups flour. Mix until combined. Add the remaining 5 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix for 6 minutes and add the salt. Mix another 2 minutes. You should have soft, supple dough.

Place the dough in a well buttered bowl, cover and let rise until double, about 1 hour. Place dough on a floured surface and pat dough out to a 1/2 inch thick. Cut with doughnut cutter or cut 3 1/2 to 4 inch circles and poke your finger in the middle of the circle and make a hole about the size of a quarter. Place doughnuts on a parchment covered cookie sheet, cover and let rise for a half hour. While the dough is rising, Pour about 3 inches (or enough oil so that the doughnut floats) into a deep fryer or a deep sauce pan on the stove. Bring the temperature to 375 degrees. Place the doughnuts into the hot oil, do not crowd them. They should quickly rise to the surface, if they do not; the oil is not hot enough. Cook the doughnut 1 1/2 minutes on each side.

Glaze: Mix 2 cups of powdered sugar, a couple tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. It should be a thick glaze. Makes about 24 doughnuts.

Please forgive me, because this recipe is not totally precise. The recipe has been passed down a few generations and was altered a bit by each family because of what was available to them.