Sweet Rolls- Doughnuts

This sweet roll and doughnut recipe is the dual-purpose yeasted dough every home baker should know. Scalded milk blooms the yeast, and a sponge stage with half the flour builds enzymatic flavor before the rest of the dough comes together. The same dough can be rolled and cut into doughnuts for the deep fryer or shaped into rolls for the oven, doubling your dessert repertoire from one recipe.

The sponge stage is the technique that beginner bread bakers often skip but shouldn’t. Mixing 1.5 cups of flour with the yeast-and-milk mixture and letting it stand until light develops complex flavor compounds that a straight dough mix never reaches. It’s the same principle behind a sourdough preferment, just much faster.

For doughnuts, the 310F (155C) frying temperature is correct and worth honoring. Lower oil produces greasy, oil-soaked doughnuts; higher oil burns the outside before the inside cooks through. Use a candy thermometer clipped to the side of the pan and adjust the heat as needed.

The powdered sugar glaze (1 cup sugar to 3 tablespoons milk) goes onto warm doughnuts. As the doughnut absorbs the warm glaze, the surface hardens into the classic translucent shellac coating you remember from real doughnut shops.

For sweet rolls, shape after the first rise, let proof until almost doubled, then bake at 350F (175C). The split between fry and bake gives the same dough completely different personalities: light and crispy doughnuts versus tender pillowy rolls.

Pro Tips

• Scald the milk to remove the whey protein that interferes with yeast activity, but cool to lukewarm before adding yeast (hot kills it)
• Knead until the dough passes the windowpane test, stretch a small piece and it should be translucent without tearing
• Cut doughnuts with a sharp cutter dipped in flour for clean edges that fry into pretty shapes
• Drain fried doughnuts on a wire rack, not paper towels, towels trap steam and soften the crust

Variations

• Glaze doughnuts with chocolate, maple, or vanilla bean instead of plain powdered sugar
• Add a tablespoon of cinnamon and raisins to the rolled-out dough for cinnamon rolls
• Fill cooled fried doughnuts with jam, cream filling, or lemon curd