baked donuts

they're all over the blogs. so i figured after my somewhat failed attempt at fried donuts last fall - i made apple cinnamon fried donuts that came out dense and hard and no good - that maybe the baked version would be a bit more forgiving. at least that's what i was hoping.

i got up this morning and made the dough. my dough was a bit wet so i added more flour until it was smooth and elastic. easy enough. and let it rest for about 45 minutes before i checked on it. when i finally checked, it hadn't risen much at all. since i don't have a really warm place in my house to stash it, i turned the oven onto "warm" and set the bowl in for the last 15 minutes. the dough rose a bit more, but in hindsight, probably not as much as it should have.

after jason searched online and in stores for a donut cutter for me at christmas, with no luck, i gave up and picked up these biscuit cutters yesterday. i needed a set anyway. and i like how they're fluted on one side and smooth circles on the other.



i rolled out the dough and used the 3.5" to cut out the circles. transferred them to the sheet pan and punched out 1.5" middles. i put the dough back in the warmed oven for about an hour to let it proof again. and again, they rose, probably not enough as they should have, but i baked them anyway. and after 8 short minutes, i had nice baked dough.



but that's all it was. baked dough. they aren't bad, but not amazing. definitely don't have the same light and airiness that i was expecting. i'll have to try these again sometime, with a different recipe.

but honestly, submerging in melted butter and rolling in cinnamon and sugar saved the day.

the recipe is found on 101 Cookbooks