DONUT / DOUGHNUT

The sun was out and the wind blew strong today. All I can remember is that taste of sugar dusted doughnut from Kampung Baru that I had for breakfast on Monday. My first bite had transported me back to when I was 7 in my parents old Mercedes driving to school with my mom at 630am in the morning. What I love about these traditional styled doughnuts is that they taste just as good now as they did way back then. 

In Malay we say its gebu, literally fluffy. This recipe coats the doughnut lightly with icing sugar. When frying these babies in the wok, the whole house would immediately smell of butter. The best days, would be when the rain starts pouring at 6am, then mom would make a mug of nescafe, hot doughnut in my hand.

This recipe yields about 20 small doughnuts. I've made a whole batch and froze the remaining batch. Saving them for tomorrow mornings breakfast. I hope the rain would come pouring down tomorrow morning. That would make a perfect weekend.

Sorry folks, I couldn't help myself, I just had to start eating even during my shooting sessions. Oh so good. 

The mix is almost similar to pizza dough and flat bread recipes. It may also resemble Johnny or Journey Cakes a common food staple from Jamaica.

Preparation Time: 2 hours (worth every minute)
Storage: Frozen batter last for 1 month. In fridge last 1 week.
Cost: RM 4 - RM 6  Yield: 20 small doughnuts

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

11g of instant yeast

1 cup of warm milk

1 tsp of sugar (for the yeast)

5 - 6 tsp of brown sugar or white sugar

3 tbsp of melted butter

pinch of salt

add cinnamon to the dough if you want

icing sugar for dusting

Oil to deep fry

Method

1. Awaken your yeast from slumber by mixing the warm milk, 1 tsp of sugar and yeast. This will take about 5 minutes to foam.

2. Add into it your flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and butter. Mix and knead the dough till it combines and does not stick to your fingers. If it does, just dust more flour to the dough gradually. Your dough should be soft to the touch but not sticky. 

3. If you do not want to use butter, you can use 1 tbsp of canola oil to substitute. 

4. Let it rest and double in size, this takes about 45 minutes. When it has doubled in size, pound and kneed once more if you'd like and let rise for another 30 minutes. Good things happen to those who wait. :)

5. Take some of the dough into your fist, make a small ball at about 2" in diameter or less. Make a hole in the middle and just rotate it on your finger to expand the dough slightly so it makes a nice round shape. 

6. Heat your oil. Test the oil by sprinkling a bit of water over the top, if it crackles means the oil is hot enough to start frying. 

7. Fry the doughnuts till brown on both sides. Cool on cooling rack, dust over with icing sugar. 

8. Consume hot with coffee or tea. 

Maybe I should fry just one more now before I head on to bed....