Homemade Doughnuts

Ingredients:

3 cups All purpose flour (plus 1 cup extra for kneading)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons fresh yeast
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
vegetable oil for frying

For coating:
1/2 cup sugar + 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon (mix together and set aside)

Directions:

Using a fork crumble the fresh yeast, until you get the texture of breadcrumbs.

Heat up the milk in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes. (The milk needs to be more in the hot side than in the warmer side, but be careful not to heat it up too much or else you will end up cooking the eggs.)

Over your working area (table) sift the flour and sugar together, form them into a pile and make an indentation in the center; in this well add the butter cut into small pieces, the 3 eggs and the crumbled yeast. Slowly add in the milk, followed by the vanilla extract and start whisking together. Once all ingredients in the indentation are well combined start bringing in the flour. Using your hands, incorporate the flour and the wet ingredients into a soft dough.

To get the texture we want we will end up adding about 2/3 cup of extra flour to knead the dough, just add a little flour at a time, because if you add it all at once, you will end up with a really tough dough, and your donuts will be hard as a rock.

Keep on kneading your dough, add as much flour as you need to get a soft dough, a dough that is not sticky at all.

Once the dough has the texture we want, we will continue to knead for about 3 more minutes. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. To speed up the rising process, place the dough inside a large container and cover with a clean, wet kitchen towel, make sure to soak the kitchen towel in warm water, just let it hand in there for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. The dough will rise to almost double the size.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1½ - inch thickness and cut into circles using a doughnut cutter. Let the donuts rise again for about 30 minutes.

In a large pan heat up about 1-2 cups of vegetable oil to a temperature of 350 F.

Fry the donuts a few at a time, for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown and completely cooked.

(To make sure the donuts are completely cooked without burning them or toasting them too much, I like to keep on turning them after 30 seconds on each side and I turned them about 4 to 5 times. for a total of 2 1/2 minutes.)

Keep on repeating this step until you are done Frying all the donuts.

Drain them on paper towels and while they are still warm, roll them on a mixture
of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.

You can also cover the donuts with Melted Chocolate and garnish them with shredded coconut or coat them with Caramel and garnish with chocolate sprinkles.