In every country that makes bread, there arises a question of what to do with the leftover scraps of dough. In England, they dropped the bits into soup or water, and made dumplings. But in Holland and in Germany, cooks dropped the extra into boiling oil, and made fry-cakes, or olie-koecken. The Dutch fancied up their leftovers a bit more by shaping them into decorative knots (dough knots), and rolling in sugar afterwards.

The Puritans found these little cakes a pleasure during their stay in Holland, and took the method with them to the New World. They found a similar dish in the Native American fried bread, a situation that would cause a bit of confusion later on when culinary historians tried to track down the origins of the confection.

Donuts have long been associated with holiday festivities. The Dutch and German made them as a Christmas specialty. Later, Europeans would make them an important part of the pre-Lent festivities. Mardi Gras wouldn’t be the same without beignets (the French version of the doughnut) or the fastnachtkuches (literally, fasting night cakes-the same dish under a different name) of the Germanic peoples.

Although crullers, maple bars, and twists all have the same basic flavor of a donuts  it is the latter’s distinct shape, with the hole in the middle that really identifies it. Read ahead>>>

All you need>>>

Flour————————–8 oz or 1 cup
Caster sugar or honey—– 1tsp
Salt—————————-1/2 tsp
Instant yeast—————- 1 tsp
Butter or margarine——–1 oz
Lukewarm milk————- 5 oz
Egg—————————- 1/2 beaten
Oil for deep frying

How it’s made>>>

1. Sift the flour and the salt. Rub in the butter.
2. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the rubbed ingredients.
3. Combine the milk and the lightly beaten egg and add to the dry ingredients and make it into a soft dough.
4. Knead vigorously by hand for 8- 10 minutes or 2 minutes with an electric dough hook.
5. Form into a ball and place into a greased polythene bag. Leave it to rise in a warm place (kitchen) 50 – 60 minutes or until it doubles in size.
6. Once doubled, turn out the risen dough and knead gently for 1 minute.
7. Roll out the dough and cut into 10 doughnuts using a 3-inch cutter. (If you don’t have a cutter, use a bugger glass to shape the doughnuts and a small coke bottle cap to cut the middle circle.)
8. Place on tray greased with flour, cover and let it rise again for 15 minutes. Or until it doubles again.
9. Heat oil, carefully lift them off the tray and deep fry till golden brown on both sides.

And for God sake’s, don’t just go and throw the centre bits into the bin. You can fry them too and coat in anything you like. Kids will specially love them.

To Finish>>>

Now you can show off your doughnuts with:

1. Chocolate glace icing.
2. Coat them in white chocolate + Cream mixture.
3. Powdered caster sugar + Cinnamon.
4. Sugar syrup for moist, sweet doughnuts.
5. Don’t bother and simply sprinkle some caster sugar on top. Sprinkle some hundreds and thousands and serve.

All you need>>>

Caster sugar————– 2 oz
Powdered cinnamon—- 1/2 tsp

How it’s made>>>

Mix sugar and polythene bag and toss hot doughnuts in the mixture to coat evenly.

Easy peesy lemon squeezy isn’t it.