Beginner sourdough doughnuts

Sourdough + doughnuts?

While the “sour” in sourdough might make you think this in no good combo. Just hang in there. Sourdough does not necessarily taste sour. If you have a good, mature starter it wil taste something in between sweet, sour, tart & savoury. It really depends WHAT you bake with your sourdough starter.

Is sourdough good for sweet bakes?

Yes, it’s great for baking cookies, pancakes & doughnuts!

As I mentioned above, a good, mature sourdough starter does not taste only sour. What is does is, it brings out the flavour of the thing you are baking. If you’re making a sweet bread, like sourdough raisin bread, you’re making a sweet(er) dough. The sourdough brings out that sweet flavour, more than yeast for example. Are you a beginner sourdough baker, these tips on how to make a sourdough starter might help you along.

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Why make doughnuts with sourdough?

Doughnuts can be made with yeast too. However, making them with sourdough has a few advantages:

– The doughnuts will be easier to digest, because the sourdough basically pre-digests the flour. I digests the starches found in the flour.

– Less gluten. The soaking and fermenting allows for some of the gluten to be broken down, which makes it great for those with gluten sensitivity.

– The taste! Sourdough doughnuts taste amazingly good. They have sooooo much flavour without feeling heavy.

Some important notes

• Use a good quality unrefined coconut oil or lard for healthy sourdough doughnuts to fry in. This is one reason why…
• You don’t need a special tool for making a doughnut shape. Give your dough a fair dusting of flour and use a glass and poke a hole in the middle with your finger.
• When frying the doughnuts, turn them right before you see the dough “bursting”. That way they will keep a pretty round doughnut shape.

Let’s do this

Proofing your sourdough doughnut dough allows for the dough to become fluff and airy. The first proof, before stretching and folding, should be done at a, what I call “comfortably chilly”, temperature. Not as cold as your fridge, but certainly not as warm as your living room. About 15°C/59°F.

If your dough proofs too fast, your doughnuts will burst when you fry them next day. It’s better to proof longer and slower (at lower temperature), than too quick.

After stretching and folding, the dough needs to be proofed overnight in the fridge.

After mixing the dough it should form a nice ball. The consistency of the sourdough doughnut dough should be similar to that of bread dough. The dough should be supple and slightly tacky, but not sticky.

Proofing & Stretching

After mixing the dough needs to proof at a cool temperature, though not (yet) as cool as your fridge. While the dough is proofing perform 2 (or more of you have enough time) stretch & folds with approx. 30 minute intervalls. The dough will become more cohesive and supple.