These old fashioned homemade donuts are reminiscent of days gone by. Filled with simple ingredients, these donuts come together in a relatively hands-off process.
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When I brought these donuts over to my grandparent’s house, the first thing my grandma said was that they were just like the ones her mother used to make. What a wonderful compliment! For so many reasons, baking is a way for me to connect to past generations that are no longer here with us. There is just something special about going back to basics, preparing a meal (or dessert!) for your family with your hands and with homegrown ingredients just like my ancestors would have done. In some ways, it connects me to them. It helps me to experience something that they would have experienced firsthand, which I can’t always do in this modern world.
These old fashioned homemade donuts are made with simple ingredients and fried in lard to come together to make a delicious glazed donut. Plus, one of the bonuses of making old fashioned homemade donuts is that you also get the donut hole in addition to the donut! That’s a pretty great extra!
Ingredients for Old Fashioned Homemade Donuts
Unlike many other recipes that call for sour cream, these donuts are made with a makeshift buttermilk using lemon juice combined with whole milk. The buttermilk helps to add a lightness and tenderness to the donuts, which is definitely something you’re looking for in a homemade donut!
- Warm Milk + 1 Tsp. lemon juice: This serves as your “homemade” buttermilk
- Yeast: The leavening agent
- Melted Butter: Used for flavor and texture
- Sugar: This of course is what makes your donuts sweet!
- Eggs: Adding eggs provides structure, moisture, and helps add flavor the finished donut
- Vanilla: We use our homemade vanilla to add a delightful flavor to our donuts
- Baking Powder: These help to create the airy texture in the donuts
- Powdered Sugar: This is mixed with vanilla and water to create a delightful glaze to cover the donuts.
- Lard: You’ll fry the donuts in melted lard. We render our own lard at home, but any oil really will work here for the frying process.
Overall Process of Making the Old Fashioned Homemade Donuts
The process of making these old fashioned homemade donuts is pretty straightforward, simple, and hands off.
The first major step is to make the dough. You’ll combine all of the ingredients together to create a tacky dough.
After the dough has been made, the second step in the process is to let the dough rise. This hands-off process will take about 2 hours and gives the yeast a chance to work and prepare the dough.
The dough will double in size at around the 2 hour mark and this is when you’ll want to do the third step of rolling out the dough and cutting it into donuts using a donut cutter.
Next, you’ll let the donuts rise once more to give the donuts a chance to regain their height after being shaped. This will take about an hour.
Once the donuts are shaped, you will fry the donuts in hot lard. You’ll want to fry until they are just lightly golden brown to keep the insides soft.
To finish the donuts, dip them in a powdered sugar glaze. This locks in the moisture and adds an extra hint of sweetness to the donuts for a delightful bite.
Materials for Old Fashioned Homemade Donuts
You really don’t need much for these old fashioned homemade donuts! All you need are a few basic materials to bring these donuts together:
- Large mixing bowl
- Rolling pin
- Donut cutter
- Cast iron pan
- Cooling racks
- Aluminum foil
- A cute apron is always helpful. 😊
Printable Recipe
Old Fashioned Homemade Donuts
These old fashioned homemade donuts are a sweet treat to make yourself at home.
Ingredients
- 1 cup luke-warm whole milk + 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 cups flour
- Powdered Sugar Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add your milk+lemon juice and yeast.
- Stir in melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and baking powder.
- Add the flour one cup at a time and mixing with a rubber spatula. As it starts to get more difficult to stir, begin to knead with your hands.
- Knead the dough until it is a tacky but not sticky texture. Add more flour if necessary.
- Cover with a towel and allow the dough to rise in the bowl until it doubles in size (about 2 hours).
- After the dough has risen, punch it down and roll out on the counter.
- Using your donut cutter, cut your donuts out of the dough. Place on a cookie sheet to rise.
- Allow the donuts to rise again for about an hour.
- Prepare your powdered sugar glaze by mixing together the 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/4 cup of water.
- To fry the donuts, fill your pan about 2 inches high with lard.
- Heat the lard in a cast iron skillet. You will know it's ready to fry with when you insert a wooden spoon and it bubbles around the tip of the handle.
- Fry each donut and donut hole for about 30 seconds on each side, or until it reaches a light golden brown color.
- Place on a cooling rack with aluminum foil underneath to allow it to cool slightly.
- While still warm, dip the donut into the powdered sugar glaze, coating both sides.
- Return the donuts to the cooling rack and allow the glaze to harden (this will only take minutes).
Notes
Store donuts in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
Donut Frying Tips
We’re definitely not experts, but there are some things we’ve learned when it comes to frying donuts!
- Do one batch of donuts at a time. Don’t start frying the second batch of donuts until the first batch has been dipped in the powdered sugar glaze.
- Don’t overcook the donuts. You want a light brown color.
- Lay a piece of aluminum foil underneath a cooling rack to catch excess powdered sugar glaze and/or lard.
- Feel free to mix things up by adding cocoa powder or cinnamon to the glaze.
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