Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

Is there anything harder than driving past a Krispy Kreme store when the HOT NOW sign is shining brightly in the window?  It's like that sign has some magnetic power to actually draw cars into the parking lot.










I am absolutely fascinated by the huge glazing conveyer belt machine.  I stand and watch it perfectly glaze each and every doughnut as it passes through the wall of warm glaze and dream about how I could recreate a machine like that in my own kitchen.  (OK, so I'm a little obsessed with the glaze machine.)

Even though I haven't yet figured out how to get that glazing conveyer belt into my kitchen, I decided to try and recreate the Krispy Kreme doughnuts at home for my family.  I declared it "doughnuts for dinner night."  (We did have a few other things to go with our doughnuts too.)

This recipe came from www.leannebakes.blogspot.com.  I altered her recipe a little and the doughnuts were amazing.  They were so good in fact that I almost didn't get a picture of them before they were scarfed down by hungry teenagers. 

It was a group effort to get these doughnuts made for sure.  You'll see why as you read through the recipe.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp boiling water

1 tsp dry active yeast

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 oz sugar (about 3 tablespoons)

1 egg

1 oz butter, cold to room temperature

dash of salt

Enough oil to cover the bottom few inches of a wok, or a deep fryer.
 

 

In a large measuring jug, combine the milk and boiling water. 

Add a teaspoon of the sugar and the yeast. Stir it gently, then leave it in a warm place for the yeast to activate (aka foam).

 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, the rest of the sugar, and the salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, until it resembles crumbs.

Add the egg (give it a quick beat) and yeast mixture to the flour mix, and mix into a smooth dough. This usually takes about 5 minutes of mixing.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured counter and knead for about 5 to 10 minutes—it should feel springy and little bubbles should form under the surface. Place it back in the bowl, cover with a cloth or plastic wrap, and let rise for about an hour until double in size.  Courtney was my dough maker.  She did a fabulous job don't you think?

Stretch dough into a rectangle and using a donut cutter, cut circles.  Place on a floured baking sheet. Cover the doughnuts and holes with a cloth to rise while you heat the oil to 375F.

Place the doughnuts into the oil and fry until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes.  Be sure to fry only a few at a time so they don’t overcrowd and stick together.

 

Drain on a paper towel. 

Combine glaze ingredients.  Dip each doughnut into glaze briefly.  Ryan was the glazer.  He also did a fantastic job - even though he didn't have a conveyer belt with a steady stream of glaze pouring through it.

 Repeat process with doughnut holes.

Where was Ben you ask?  Taking all of these fabulous pictures.  He served as guest photographer on this post and he did a wonderful job - don't you think?

No kidding, these doughnuts were on the table less than 5 minutes.  Courtney had a couple of friends over and they were eating doughnuts as fast as Ryan could glaze them.  The pictures don't really do them justice because the glaze didn't really have a chance to set up.  I had to grab these off of the plate quickly so I could snap a few quick pictures before they got eaten.  You'll have to take my word for it - they were good.  I think I'm ready to hang a "Hot Now" sign in my window now.  (Well then again, maybe not.)

Ciao!