Homemade Donuts

Ingredients 

• 1 cup milk, divided
• 1 1/2 tbsp dry active yeast
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour, plus extra as needed
• peanut oil, for frying

Direction

1. Warm the cup of milk in the microwave until about 100° F. Pour half of the milk into the Bowl of a stand mixer, along with the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar.
2. Stir to combine and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes. At 5 minutes, the mixture should be frothy and bubbly.
3. Once the mixture is frothy, add the remaining milk, melted butter, granulated sugar, salt and 2 cups of flour.Knead until fully combined.
4. Slowly add in the remaining 1/4-1/2 cup until the dough cleans the side of the bowl, is tacky to your finger but doesn’t stick if pulled away quickly.
5. Knead for an additional 5-7 minutes.
6. Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour.
7. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn onto a lightly floured surface.
8. Gently press the dough out into a rectangle and then use a donut cutter to cut your donuts out of the dough. Cut the leftover dough into small portions for bite sized donuts.
9. Cover with plastic wrap or a cloth and allow to rise for an additional 30-45 minutes.
10. Pour 2-3 inches of oil in the bottom of your pan. Heat the oil until 350°.
11. Fry the donuts at 350° for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown on each side. Do not over crowd the pan.
12. When they are golden brown, let the donuts rest on a cookie cooling rack that is paced inside of a cookie sheet.
13. Repeat with remaining dough.
14. When the excess oil has dripped off of the donut top with your favorite glaze (recipe above) or with chocolate frosting (recipe above)