March was the month for enriched dough for the sourdough monthly challenge I participate every month, and I decided to make sourdough donuts. I adapted the recipe I had for yeasted donuts and used this time to play around with flavors.

I wanted to try a different filling, so I made a rose cream using rose water and the result was AMAZING. Not just because rose water makes everything better, also because these donuts were super soft!

I’d love to tell you they keep fresh for several days, the truth is… they’re so good they didn’t make it that long! 😀

If you don’t have or don’t like rose water you can use any other flavoring. Vanilla, almond, lemon, orange blossom… you name it! (Just be careful with the quantities, some flavorings are stronger and you wouldn’t need that much).

And if you want to try rose water but are under quarantine, please please, please… Wait until the quarantine is lifted. As good as these donuts are, nothing is more important than your safety. Donuts can wait, your health is the priority.

About the recipe

This recipe is pretty straightforward. First, you need to mix all wet ingredients except the starter and butter. Add the sugar and dissolve it, and then add the starter and dissolve the blob a little. My starter was at its peak of activity (it had already tripled in size after feeding it).

Now combine flour and salt. I used bread flour but if for whatever reasons you just have all-purpose flour, you probably won’t need all the milk in the recipe. All-purpose flour absorbs less moisture than bread flour, so using all the milk will, most likely, result in a very slack and sticky dough. And this dough is already on the sticky side.

I used soy milk because that’s what I drink, obviously, you can use regular milk. Just make sure you boil it for a few minutes to break down some enzymes that otherwise could make gluten development difficult

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine just enough so you don’t see dry flour particles, cover and let it rest for 30-45 minutes. This autolysis will help the dough to start developing the gluten, hydrate flour particles, and make easier to incorporate the butter. This dough is a bit on the sticky side, so I find this step useful, although is not mandatory.

About the dough

After 30-45 minutes start kneading either by hand or using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer and add the softened butter.

Knead for a few minutes until the butter has been incorporated. If you’re using a stand mixer, you might need to stop several times to scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl or if it rolled up on the paddle attachment.

This dough is a bit sticky, so make sure you knead it well until it’s elastic and it passes the windowpane test. If you don’t see it’s getting more and more elastic stop kneading, cover it and let it rest 10 minutes. Then come back to it and start kneading again.

Sometimes the dough gets tired, the gluten strands start to tangle so much that it’s impossible to develop the gluten network. Letting the dough rest allows the gluten strands to realign and that’s when the magic happens, friends.

You might think your dough is not ready, however, after a few minutes of rest you’ll see how much better it looks and it feels! These rests are crucial when dealing with enriched dough and are also a way to prevent over kneading.

When the dough is ready it should feel very smooth, not too shiny and even dough it will be a bit sticky, it shouldn’t get stuck to your fingers.

Preparing the donuts

Once the dough is ready, let it proof until it doubles in size, but keep its temperature at a maximum of 23C/72F because if it gets too warm it will be very difficult to handle. Not to mention that the butter might melt and leach out of the dough. Patience is key! ( I left my dough fermenting overnight, about 9h, at around 19C/67F).

The next morning punch the dough, degas it well and place it in the fridge for a couple of hours. It’s a sticky dough, cooling it down a little will help you shape the donuts.

After the dough chilled for a while, flour your counter and roll it into a 1cm / 0.5in thickness. Use flour to dust the counter and the top of the dough so it doesn’t get stuck to the rolling pin.

To avoid the donuts from shrinking after cutting them, let the dough rest 15 minutes or so (covered). Then cut one, and if the dough doesn’t shrink you’re good to go, if it does, let it rest a bit longer.

With a round cookie cutter or a glass or whatever you have, cut the donuts. Knead and roll the dough scraps again (let it rest a little if you find it’s difficult to roll it), cut more donuts and continue collecting scraps until you don’t have more dough.

If you have parchment paper, cut small squares, put them on a tray and place the donuts on each square to proof. This will make your life easier when you have to fry them. You won’t have to deal with dough stuck on the tray!

Cover the donuts and let them proof for about 1h at 20/68F Don’t wait for them to double in size or when you fry them they’ll have huge holes inside. They should feel puffy. if your room temperature is higher, they might be ready a bit sooner.

In the meanwhile, you can prepare your filling, either the pastry cream or whatever you prefer. When it’s ready, remember to cover it with plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream so it doesn’t develop a skin.

The last step!

To fry the donuts you can use vegetable oil or other flavorless oil. Vegetable oil is a good choice because it has a higher smoke point. You don’t want your fire alarm to go off like crazy!

The ideal temperature for frying is 180-190C / 360-375F so I’d suggest you use a thermometer. I also used the last dough scraps to test the oil.

Fry the donuts just until they have a nice golden color, flipping them every few seconds. And transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels to absorbs the excess oil.

I transferred mine to the paper towel and quickly coated them with sugar. This is up to you, you can finish your donuts

Let the donuts cool down a little and with a piping bag fill them with the filling you prepare and enjoy!

This recipe yields 6-7 pretty large donuts or 10 regular/smaller donuts.

If you make this recipe, let me know what you think and tag me on your creations! I love to see what you guys do!

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If you have any suggestions or would want me to make some recipes, adapt a yeast-based recipe into a sourdough one, etc, please contact me and I’ll try my best to respond and plan a recipe!

Happy baking!