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.
Beginner sourdough doughnuts
This recipe for sourdough doughnuts is great for beginner sourdough bakers. It's easy to make and tastes really good.
Ingredients
- 100 grams of sourdough starter
- 500 grams of spelt flour
- 250 grams of whole (raw) milk
- 50 grams of (raw) cream
- 50 grams of melted butter
- 2 tbsp sugar or maple syrup (more if you like it sweet(er))
- good pinch of salt
Instructions
- The night before, feed your sourdough starter at 100%, that's equal amounts of flour and water. Take at least 50 grams of starter, add 100 grams of water and 100 grams of (whole rye) flour. By taking at least 50 grams of starter you'll have enough left for your next bake. Leave the starter on the counter overnight
- Next morning, add milk, cream and melted butter to the starter and whisk.
- Add the flour, salt and sugar.
- Mix untill the dough forms a ball
- Leave to proof for about 5 hours in a cool place. After one hour, perform at least 2 stretch and folds in this time. Leaving about 30 minutes between each stretch and fold.
- Cover the dough and place in the fridge overnight.
- Next morning, take the dough out of the fridge and roll out to about 1,5 cm or ½ inch on a well floured surface.
- Cut out doughnut shapes
- Preheat the oil for frying. You can test the oil for the right temperature by dropping a small cube of bread in it. When it start sizzling, it's ready to fry the doughnuts.
- Gently drop the doughnuts in the oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides.
- Place the fried doughnuts on a piece of kitchen towel.
Notes
You can drop the doughnuts in powdered sugar right after frying. Or whip up a quick cream cheese frosting made from mascarpone. Whip mascarpone and add maple syrup to taste.
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