Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home

I admit it: I have no interest in deep frying donuts. It seems messy and potentially unsafe (as I have a 1-yr-old running around the kitchen). But...I do love donuts. I like baking donuts and this book is great even if I never use a portion of it. (I'm not going to use the gluten-free or vegan recipes either, but people who need such things can be happy that info is included.) There are 3 main recipes for baked donuts: 1) Baked Raised Donuts. These are made with yeast and have to rise; I rarely have good results with yeast, but I've made these twice and they've turned out really well. I made them this morning and they disappeared! Unlike the other recipes, you don't even need a donuts pan for these, just a donut cutter and a baking sheet. In fact, you can roll out the dough to make twists and you wouldn't even need the donut cutter! 2) Baked Cake Donuts. Ok, I haven't made these yet. I have made the Chocolate Baked Cake Donuts from the author's blog, which is supposed to be a variation on this recipe. Those turned out well. You need a donut pan. 3) Apple Cider Donuts. These can be baked or fried. I baked them and they were delicious. Highly recommended and super easy. Again, you need a donut pan. (I have 4 Norpro pans and they work well.) Three recipes, you say. Why should I buy a book for just three recipes? But wait, there's more! The latter half of the book has a number of recipes that take main, basic recipes and alter them slightly. E.g., Red Velvet Donuts, which can be made with a baked donut batter. You will get more than 3 recipes for baked donut types in this book! More importantly, there's a section on donut glazes. It has about 10 different glaze recipes. I've made 4 so far, all of which have turned out well (and been tasty...and easy!). The glaze section is a nice touch and adds a lot of value to the book. In short, I recommend this book EVEN IF you are avoiding the deep fryer, like me! Baked donuts can be incredible! (Plus, you never know...I might just change my mind one day and break out the vegetable oil.) :>

I've been baking for decades but, for some reason, never tried to make donuts. Saw this and gave it a whirl. While my results won't be putting Dunkin' Donuts out of business anytime soon, I considered them to be pretty tasty. The cookbook provides clear instructions as to different donut types. I was especially pleased with the donut basics section, which discussed (albeit briefly) issues such as flour types, equipment needed, working with yeast dough, and other helpful topics. Some of my relatives are gluten-sensitive, so I tried the gluten-free donut. Surprisingly good and not at all difficult to make. Two items I found to be very helpful to have were a donut pan (I got 2 of these: Wilton Nonstick 6-Cavity Donut Pan ) and a cutter for raised donuts (this was inexpensive and works well: Ateco 3-1/2-Inch Stainless Steel Doughnut Cutter ). The recipes provide clear instructions with numerous tips to ensure success. Very nicely done, and I highly recommend this to anyone looking to try their hand at donut making.

Doughnuts, made at home, filling the house with the smell of frying sweet bread, are such a treat. I was really pleased with Doughnut basics chapter explaining how the book was organized, what equipment and ingredients were needed, techniques. Chapters like this are helpful to get the most out of a cookbook. There are some gluten free and vegan doughs, very nice thought for those who want to sink their teeth into a warm fresh doughnut but might not find one as easily. The regular doughnuts are great, the doughnuts like the banana bread and German chocolate cake are variations that make the book special. Most recipes are really well laid out with an easy to read ingredient list and clear instructions. I was going along fine trying out the basic recipes like the basic raised and basic cake to get a feel for the book. No problems and yummy doughnuts, I really like the honey glaze too, that touch of honey gives it a little special taste. One technique given in the book is something I never heard of before and works wonderfully. For really wet doughs the dough is piped onto squares of parchment paper and then put in the oil dough side down, after a few seconds the paper loosens and you can pull it off with tongs. It's a super smart and original technique. Then I got to the crullers. The recipe calls to divide the three eggs and have two egg whites standing by. The explanation of how to add egg whites until glossy with a peak was one of the best I read. However, after one moves the dough from the pan to the mixer, the ingredients state to start adding the eggs one by one. So someone less experienced might wonder why they even divided them, add whole eggs, and have a problem. I've made pate a choux before so I knew it meant egg yolks, but that might be something they want to edit in later editions. Probably this stands out to me because the book and recipes are so well edited. However, the crullers turned out absolutely delicious:) If you want warm fresh doughnuts and are looking for a book with a lot of ideas and variations, you really can't go wrong with this one.

I bought this book intending to start making doughnuts for myself and friends. After reading about what equipment and ingredients I would need, I went to the store and made my purchases. I am guessing that most people already have what they will need, but my kitchen was short a few items, mostly a dutch oven for the frying process. (I didn't want my doughnuts competing with my french fries in the deep fryer.) I made the Maple Bacon Bars for my first attempt. They turned out to be a HUGE hit at a get together that evening. I even messed up my execution of the recipe a little and they still turned out great. If you are merely competent in the kitchen, you can still easily follow the recipes in this book to make some really good doughnuts. I will be back in the kitchen in the next few days for new batch of doughnuts. My biggest issue now is deciding which variety to try next. All of my regular favorites are in here and several which I would never have imagined. I now have no apprehension about attempting anything in this book. It is easy to follow (unless you rush to do something and fail to actually read the directions in the recipe like I did), and the pictures give you a great idea as to how they should look upon completion.

Great book, recipes are good

I disagree wholeheartedly with the comment that this book does not have a lot of recipes. There are not that many basic doughnut recipes to begin with, but this one covers all of the basic types and all relevant techniques, which is often lacking in specialty cookbooks. Also includes a wide variety of filling ideas and glaze/frosting options. The potential combinations are endless if you have a decent imagination and are not stuck on following recipes exactly, especially for the frostings/fillings (you know who you are). If you are looking for guilt-free baked doughnut recipes (a complaint from another reviewer), you probably should not be considering doughnuts to begin with. Although there is a pate-a-choux-based cruller recipe here that is actually better when baked, not fried, in my view, and it is yeast-free, meaning you waste no time letting dough rise before you indulge, and they beat the pants off any cake faux-nut you try to bake instead of fry. Great book; highly recommended for lovers of the sugary toroid.

Wow! The doughnuts came out delicious - fluffy, tasty, impressive! The first time I flipped through the book, I thought it would be good (as in "Whoa, this is GOOD!). The instructions are straight-forward and precise, very creatively well-written; it's a small book, after all, and it cannot contain the whys and hows of everything about doughnuts. I tried the Basic Raised recipe and my kids were giving very good reviews. Readers are not going to be confused: there are necessary tips on how the recipe would succeed; i.e., description of the sponge, consistency of the dough, refrigeration, etc. Brilliant and unselfish! It has beautiful, true-to-life pictures, lots of them; has introductory sections on baking, ingredients, tools and equipment. No fancy gadgets required and alternative methods are given.

This book has donut recipes for almost everyone. It starts off with the basic recipes, then moves to simple glazes, and finally donut variations. There are lots of variations, such as the apple pie, s'mores, peanut butter and jelly, apple cider, red velvet, carrot cake, brandied eggnog, german chocolate cake, and maple bacon bars. One of the great things about the book is that there are recipes for people with different sensitivities/diets. There is a gluten-free recipe, a baked raised donut recipe, and a vegan recipe. It also has recipes for donut-like creations, such as malasadas, sopapillas, and loukoumades. The instructions for the recipes are so clear that a beginning baker wouldn't have trouble following them. I had never made donuts before, and the baked raised donuts I made came out very well. They reminded me a bit of a sweet roll, but they were very tasty. Another plus is that you don't need a lot of specialized equipment to make the recipes. Though, the author does suggest buying donut pans if you want to bake any of the donuts other than the baked raised (which can be baked on a sheet pan).

Recipes look good but I had bought two Wilton doughnut pans assuming there would be a lot of cake type oven baked recipes and I don't see that many. Lots of fried recipes and quite a few where you cut the dough and bake, but again, not so many that actually use the doughnut pans. If anyone has a good recipe book or websites that show recipes made in a doughnut pan I would be most appreciative. I've bookmarked some sites but I'd love to hear from people who have tried doughnut pan recipes and liked the results. thank you

Interesting read with a good selection of recipes. Good to have some gluten free options as well as some healthier baked recipes rather than all deep fried.

Das Buch bietet viele Donutrezepte, allerdings nicht viele die mich zum nachmachen anregen. Die Glasuren sind alle auf Zuckerglasurbasis und werden deshalb auch nicht so schön wie die Fotos zeigen. Die Schokoglasur ist z.B. Zucker, Wasser und Kakaopulver. Nach dem Rezept wird sie durchsichtig wenn sie trocknet und schmeckt nicht besonders. Einige ganz nette Rezepte sind drin, aber ich würde es nicht unbedingt empfehlen.

Excelente muy buena explicación de detalles importantes y muy buena variedad de recetas lo recomiendo mucho a quien le interese las donas

I love my doughnuts recipes, once a year I choose one recipe and make my family happy. Easy recipes and clear guidelines.