I sit here in despair and, of course, donut-less.

Below this missive is a recipe I copied from some cooking mag for something
called "Cake Doughnut Mix"

I have, at this time, tried two donut recipes and they both failed.

THIS recipe, whew, was such a failure I'm not sure I can describe. Also, I
*think* I know what I did wrong which I would ask kind selves to verify. AND,
damn, if possible does anyone have a recipe for donuts I can make in my deep
fryer that works?

If you note this recipe is for a "mix", the sort of thing one can make up ahead
of time and store. Then the recipe continues on with instructions on how to
make the "mix" into real donuts by the addition of several ingredients.

Note that the mix part calls for 4.5 cups of all purpose flour than a cup of
this and a cup of that. And understand that as I was preparing this recipe I
was not attempting to make the mix for storage but was, instead, trying to make
the damn donuts.

So further on the recipe instructs how to turn the "mix" into donuts. This
part says to take 4.5 cups of the donut "mix" then yada, yada.

What I think I did wrong was to ass-u-me that the entire mix could immediately
be turned around and changed into donuts by the addition of ingredients as it
instructs. But paying closer attention to the measurement of the ingredients
in the mix part, there is not only 4.5 cups of flour, but a cup of powdered
milk and another cup of sugar, etc. Which effectively means that the mix part
that could be stored would be MORE than the 4.5 cups called for to complete the
recipe. Myself used the entire mixture instead of doling out 4.5 cups of the
"mixture".

Way I figure, the proportions were all wrong. OR another thing I did was to
use, instead of "shortening" I used those butter-flavored shortening sticks,
made by Crisco. I used the correct amount but did I erroneously figure that
those shortening sticks are not the same thing as shortening like the recipe
calls for?

Anyway, these things fell apart into a pile of fried doughy crumbs immediately
when placed into the deep fryer. I started with two doughnuts but I got the
crumbs. Then I tried frying only the "holes" but they too fell to crumbs.
Soon I had a pile of fried crumbs that would fill a small trash bag. I tried
to salvage the recipe by adjusting the eggs which wasn't easy as the dough was
already rolled out and everything. Still more crumbs.

Any help, suggestions, aspersions to my character? More important, some donut
recipes that work?
+++++
Cake Doughnut Mix

4.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmet
1.5 cups shortening.
2 eggs
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
oil for deep frying
confectioners' sugar to dust finish doughnuts

In a large bowl, combine the flour, milk powder, sugar, baking powder, salt,
cinnamon and nut; cut in shortening until crumbly. At this point the
ingredients can be stored for later use.

Place 4.5 cups doughnut mix in a large bowl. Combine eggs, milk and vanilla;
stir into doughnut mix just until moistened. Turn dough onto a floured
surface; knead 15-20 times. Pat dough out to ½ in. thickness. Cut with a
floured 3-inch doughnut cutter.

In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 375 deg. Fry a few
doughnuts at a time until golden brown, about 1 to 1 and half minutes on each
side. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.


Pat Fish/Merryland

Pat Fish1 wrote:
> I sit here in despair and, of course, donut-less.
>
> Below this missive is a recipe I copied from some cooking mag for something
> called "Cake Doughnut Mix"
>
> I have, at this time, tried two donut recipes and they both failed.
>
> THIS recipe, whew, was such a failure I'm not sure I can describe. Also, I
> *think* I know what I did wrong which I would ask kind selves to verify. AND,
> damn, if possible does anyone have a recipe for donuts I can make in my deep
> fryer that works?
>
> If you note this recipe is for a "mix", the sort of thing one can make up ahead
> of time and store. Then the recipe continues on with instructions on how to
> make the "mix" into real donuts by the addition of several ingredients.
>
> Note that the mix part calls for 4.5 cups of all purpose flour than a cup of
> this and a cup of that. And understand that as I was preparing this recipe I
> was not attempting to make the mix for storage but was, instead, trying to make
> the damn donuts.
>
> So further on the recipe instructs how to turn the "mix" into donuts. This
> part says to take 4.5 cups of the donut "mix" then yada, yada.
>
> What I think I did wrong was to ass-u-me that the entire mix could immediately
> be turned around and changed into donuts by the addition of ingredients as it
> instructs. But paying closer attention to the measurement of the ingredients
> in the mix part, there is not only 4.5 cups of flour, but a cup of powdered
> milk and another cup of sugar, etc. Which effectively means that the mix part
> that could be stored would be MORE than the 4.5 cups called for to complete the
> recipe. Myself used the entire mixture instead of doling out 4.5 cups of the
> "mixture".
>
> Way I figure, the proportions were all wrong. OR another thing I did was to
> use, instead of "shortening" I used those butter-flavored shortening sticks,
> made by Crisco. I used the correct amount but did I erroneously figure that
> those shortening sticks are not the same thing as shortening like the recipe
> calls for?
>
> Anyway, these things fell apart into a pile of fried doughy crumbs immediately
> when placed into the deep fryer. I started with two doughnuts but I got the
> crumbs. Then I tried frying only the "holes" but they too fell to crumbs.
> Soon I had a pile of fried crumbs that would fill a small trash bag. I tried
> to salvage the recipe by adjusting the eggs which wasn't easy as the dough was
> already rolled out and everything. Still more crumbs.
>
> Any help, suggestions, aspersions to my character? More important, some donut
> recipes that work?
> +++++


From memory from 30+ years ago:
Try taking canned biscuit dough (fluffy, not flaky) and punching a hole in
the middle with your thumb. Then stretch them a bit to look like a donut.
Then fry. When they are done, take them out and put on a brown paper bag
to drain. Dust with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Your recipe didn't look fryable. Too much shortening and not enough moisture.

Best regards,
Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

> From memory from 30+ years ago:
> Try taking canned biscuit dough (fluffy, not flaky) and punching a hole in
> the middle with your thumb. Then stretch them a bit to look like a donut.
> Then fry. When they are done, take them out and put on a brown paper bag
> to drain. Dust with cinnamon and powdered sugar.


My mom used to make those for us. They were great hot right from the
pot. Probably wouldn't have been so good after sitting a while, but that
wasn't a problem for us!



Brian Rodenborn

_________________________________
"Pat Fish1" > wrote in message
...
> I sit here in despair and, of course, donut-less.
>
> I have, at this time, tried two donut recipes and they both failed.
____________________________________________
I don't know if you only wanted recipes for cake doughnuts that you can roll
out. This one is for a Doughnut Maker. I have a very old one by Tala that is
aluminun, but they are selling them again in a plastic version. If you don't
have or can't find one, you could still fry these by spoonfuls (like doughnut
holes) They are very good and so easy. I make them often for my grandkids.

VANILLA DOUGHNUTS
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar (more or less to your taste)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Butter (or shortning)
2 eggs
about 3/4 cup milk (to make a thick batter that you can drop into the oil)

--
scGram