Homemade raised donuts might sound intimidating to make, but are actually easy! Use these tips and tricks to make your own! This post was originally published in 2011 and now includes a video! This post contains affiliate links.
No time to make yeast donuts? No problem! These biscuit dough donuts come together in just minutes! You might also like our apple cider donuts or our pumpkin cake donuts.
Watch our step by step video!
Homemade Raised Donuts (Yeast Donuts)
How many of you have tried making homemade doughnuts? And how many have failed miserably? If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Raised donuts can be intimidating to make. I had fail after fail when I first learned how to fry donuts. Being the pastry JUNKIE that I am, I kept trying and can now make a killer donut that rivals any from a local bakery.
Perfectly soft, golden, and covered in glaze! Click here for my maple, chocolate and vanilla glaze recipes!
3 Tips for Homemade Donuts
1. Don’t handle the dough too much. These are a raised donut which means they can easily deflate if handled too much. Just like bread dough. Use lots of flour to make sure that your dough isn’t too sticky when rolling out 1/2″ thick. Having the dough soft, but not sticky, makes it easier to transfer your doughnuts into the oil without handling them too much. Handling them a lot causes them to deflate after they rise, and they won’t be as light and fluffy in the end.
2. Get a good thermometer. If you aren’t using a deep fryer with a built-in thermometer, a digital thermometer on a deep skillet works great too (this is what I use). Watch the temperature closely. Turn the heat up or down accordingly to keep it as close to 350 degrees as possible. Make 1 or 2 smaller donuts in the beginning as tester donuts, just to make sure the oil is to your liking.
3. Glaze donuts while warm. Dip the donuts into the glaze when they are warm (NOT HOT). Once they come out of the fryer, allow them to cool for a couple of minutes. Warm donuts are the easiest to glaze. The glaze coats them like a dream!
Homemade Donuts Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. yeast
- 2 Tbsp. warm water
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp. butter, softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- oil for frying (1 quart)
Simple Glaze
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 Tbsp. warm water
How To Make Donuts
- Start out by making a simple bread dough. Once the dough has had a chance to double in size (rise 1 hour), roll out to 1/2″ thick and cut out donuts using a biscuit cutter or donut cutter.
- Allow donuts to proof and double in size again (rise about 30 minutes). Heat oil to 350 degrees.
- Fry donuts in a pot or dutch oven until golden brown on each side (1-2 minutes on each side). Remove from oil and place on a rack. A layer of paper towels underneath is helpful to catch excess oil.
- Allow donuts to cool SLIGHTLY while you make the glaze.
- Combine glaze ingredients and dip donuts into glaze.
- Donuts are best served warm and fresh.
- They can be reheated in the microwave (5-8 seconds) on the second day.
- This recipe makes 9 delicious donuts and donut holes! I use a 3.5″ biscuit cutter and a smaller 1″ cutter for the holes. You can double the recipe and make 18 donuts and donut holes.
Homemade Raised Donuts Recipe
Raised Donuts
Homemade raised donuts might sound intimidating to make, but are actually easy! Use these tips and tricks to make your own!
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Servings: 9
Calories: 325kcal
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. yeast
- 2 Tbsp. warm water
- 3/4 cup warm milk
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp. butter softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- oil for frying 1 quart
SIMPLE GLAZE
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3-4 Tbsp. warm water
Instructions
- Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, egg, butter, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stir with a wooden spoon. Add remaining flour and mix until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl.
- Knead until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double (1 hour).
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and use a rolling pin to gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a donut or biscuit cutter. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth or piece of plastic wrap.
- Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees. Place a few donuts into the hot oil.Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath to catch excess oil.
- Mix glaze ingredients and dip donuts into the glaze while warm, and set back on the wire racks to drain off excess.
Nutrition
Calories: 325kcal
Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
Oh my goodness! What a perfect Sunday evening activity and those look amazing!!
Oh these are SO yummy looking!!
Those look amazing!
COnnie
Those look sooooo yummy! Sure they are a huge hit too!
I would love for you to stop by my blog and share this at my For the Kids link party! Stop by and join in on the fun!!!
http://sunscholars.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-kids-friday-9.html
I love that same recipe!! they always turn out so yummy.
mm mm donuts! they look so yummy.
kathryn
http://www.thedragonsfairytail.blogspot.com
Wow. This is amazing! I have never tried donuts but these look amazing!!!
I host a weekly Friday link party I would love you to join if you are interested!
Ashley
http://www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com
These look awesome! I SO have a donut problem 🙂 Hope you can drop by and link up to my Sweet Treats party tomorrow!
Ashton
http://www.somethingswanky.com
Oh. My. Heavens. YUM!!! I’m saving this recipe! Thanks for sharing it with us! 🙂
Those look yummy! One of my favorite childhood memories was coming home to find my mom had made homemade doughnuts. She lost her recipe years ago. The ones we’ve tried have all been cakey instead of yeasty like these. I’m saving your recipe to give them a try since I have a bread machine and always looking for more ways how to use it. Thanks for sharing how to make these.
yum they look great! i am too scared to tried real deep fried donuts!!
Yum! I love making doughnuts, but don’t do it often enough (according to my kids)! Did you know that National Donut Day is June 3rd?
Those look like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! MMMM..
My inner sugar child is longing to reach through the screen and eat all of them. They look so flipping yummy!