A-Glaze-Ing! The Best Ways To Make Your Own Doughnuts

National Doughnut Week is fast approaching - starting on the 9th May - which means there is plenty of time to find a recipe and make your own doughnuts at home.

Making your own doughnuts is surprisingly easy - the recipe only requires store cupboard basics, and you can prepare the dough and cook perfect doughnuts in under half an hour. You can make doughnuts with or without yeast, and have fun choosing which fillings, toppings, glazes and flavourings you want to try.

We have gathered together some of the easiest doughnut recipes - which don't require any specialist equipment - and there is even a recipe for vegan doughnuts that is well worth a try…

How to Make Traditional Doughnuts

This traditional recipe uses yeast to make delicious, light and fluffy doughnuts. Make sure to leave enough time to make these sweet treats - as the dough in this recipe needs a first prove before being chilled overnight, and then it needs a second prove for about 4 hours the following day.

Ingredients

- 500g strong white bread flour

- 60 g golden caster sugar (plus more for dusting)

- 15 g fresh yeast, crumbled

- 4 eggs

- zest of 1/2 lemon

- 2 teaspoons of fine sea salt

- 125 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

- 2 litres of oil for frying

Method

- The evening before serving the doughnuts, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, eggs, zest and salt in a mixer - with a beater paddle - along with 150 g of water. Mix on medium speed for about 8 minutes - or until the dough forms a smooth ball.

Turn the machine off, and let the dough rest in the mixer for 1 minute.

- Start the mixer again, and slowly add the butter, 25 g at a time. Once all of the butter has been added, mix at a high speed for 5 minutes then cover the bowl with a towel and leave the dough to prove until it has doubled in size.

- Quickly knock back the dough, then recover the dough and place it in the fridge to chill overnight.

- The next day, cut the dough into roughly 50 g pieces (this recipe should give about 20 doughnuts) - rolling them into tight, smooth dough balls.

- Place on a floured tray, leaving plenty of space between each ball. Cover loosely with cling film and leave for four hours - or until doubled in size.

- Heat the oil to 180 C, and carefully fry 2-3 dough balls at a time. Each batch should take around 4 minutes (2 minutes on each side) to cook.

- Remove the doughnuts from the oil, placing them on kitchen paper and tossing the doughnuts in sugar whilst they are warm.

‍

Speedy Yeast-Free Doughnuts

This recipe from the All Recipes website can be prepared in 15 minutes, and cooked in just 2 minutes - meaning that you could be tucking into homemade doughnuts that are still warm in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients

- 90 ml milk

- 2 tablespoons white vinegar

- 25 g butter

- 100 g caster sugar, plus another 60 g for dusting

- 1 egg

- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 250 g plain flour (sifted)

- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 litre oil for deep frying

Method

- Stir the vinegar into the milk, then leave for a few minutes to thicken

- In the meantime, cream together the butter and 100g of sugar then beat in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Add a bit of the flour mix into the egg mix, followed by a bit of the vinegar and milk, alternating between the two until you have one smooth dough mixture.

- On a floured surface, roll the dough out on to about 1cm thick, cut into rounds and set aside for around 10 minutes.

- Heat the oil to 190 C in a deep pan - then fry the doughnuts in the hot oil until they turn a golden colour, turning them over just once. Drain the doughnuts on kitchen paper, and serve immediately.

Vegan-Friendly Doughnuts

By simply replacing the butter with margarine, and dairy milk with soya milk - it is easy to make delicious vegan  doughnuts. Jamie Oliver's vegan doughnuts are quick and easy to make, taking just under an hour to prepare and cook - and there are lots of different vegan-friendly fillings and dips to try too...

Ingredients

- 50 g dairy-free margarine

- 120 ml soya milk

- 250 g plain flour

- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

- 50 g golden caster sugar (plus more for dusting)

- 1.5 litres sunflower oil

Method

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar - making a well at the centre of the mix.

Melt the margarine, soya and 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a small pan - pouring it into the flour mix and bringing it together with a fork. The mixture should form a thick, wet dough.

Divide and roll the dough into 24 even balls - these should be roughly the size of a golf ball.

Heat the rest of the sunflower oil in a deep pan, reducing to a medium heat before adding the dough balls. Cook six dough balls at a time - cooking until they look golden brown, and they float to the surface.

Drain the warm doughnuts by placing them on kitchen paper - then, add them to a bowl sprinkling them with a little more caster sugar.

Fillings and Dips

Other than the traditional coating of powdered sugar, you can serve your homemade doughnuts with a huge range of fillings, dips and glazes. Experiment to find a new favourite - or try cooking some of these classics:

Thick Vanilla Custard

Made using store cupboard essentials, vanilla custard is one of the most delicious doughnut fillings. Follow the recipe on BBC Good Food, and be careful not to curdle the mixture when adding the hot milk to the egg yolks.

You can flavour this custard with your favourite ingredients, including coffee, chocolate, almond, or a malted drink powder, such as Horlicks.

Raspberry Dipping Sauce

A great vegan option is a raspberry dipping sauce. Try this simple, three-ingredient dip that is made using just raspberries, water and sugar. Heat the ingredients in a pan for around 5 - 7 minutes, then sieve and serve. For further instructions follow this recipe by Julie Blanner.