The Best Homemade Glazed Donuts
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4.8
410 reviews
Excellent
The Best Homemade Glazed Donuts
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This homemade glazed donut recipe creates soft, fluffy yeast-raised donuts with a tender crumb and a shiny glaze. The dough includes flour, sugar, yeast, milk, eggs, salt, and softened butter incorporated gradually to achieve the right texture. After kneading and resting, the dough is fried in vegetable oil until golden, then coated with a simple sugar glaze made from powdered sugar, water, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. The result is a classic glazed donut with a rich buttery flavor and a lightly sweet finish.
Description
The Best Homemade Glazed Donuts recipe relies on a yeast dough enriched with butter and eggs to develop a soft yet structured texture. Mixing all-purpose flour along with sugar and yeast, then incorporating cold milk and eggs, forms the base. Adding butter incrementally after initial mixing softens the dough significantly, requiring extended kneading to bring it together. The dough undergoes a slow rise, preferably in the refrigerator, which improves the final donut's lightness and reduces density.
Once shaped, the donuts are fried in hot vegetable oil until golden and cooked through, providing a crisp exterior and tender interior. The accompanying glaze is a simple mixture that adds sweetness and a glossy finish, balancing the rich dough.
This recipe yields a batch of classic glazed donuts which can be halved if a smaller quantity is desired. Adjustments to flour amount may be necessary depending on measuring technique and mixing equipment. The instructions recommend careful flour measurement to avoid dense outcomes, especially using stand mixers.
Frying in appropriate oil volume and temperature ensures even cooking, while the glaze cools atop the warm donuts for a satisfying sweet crust. These donuts can be enjoyed fresh or within a day or two for best texture.
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Ingredients
Donuts:
- 7 cups all-purpose flour see UPDATED note!
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast see note for active dry yeast
- 2 cups milk I use 2%, cold
- 2 egg large
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¾ cup butter cut into tablespoon-size pieces and softened to room temp, salted
- 2 to 3 to 3 quarts vegetable oil for frying
Glaze:
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- ¾ cup water hot, see note
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour (see note!), sugar, yeast, milk, eggs and mix until combined. The dough will look a little shaggy, that's ok. Add the salt and continue mixing until well combined and the texture looks fairly smooth, 2-3 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- With the mixer running on medium low, add the butter a piece at a time until all the butter has been added and is incorporated into the dough. The dough will have softened considerably and may be sticking to the middle or sides of the bowl. Scrape down the middle and sides as needed.
- Knead the dough on medium speed for 10-12 minutes. Start the kneading time after the last of the butter has been added. The dough will be very sticky but as it kneads, it should come together better. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.
- You'll know the dough is done mixing if you can pull up a handful and it stretches easily. It will be very soft. And it may even be sticking to the sides or middle a bit (depending on the mixer you have), but it shouldn't leave very much residue on your fingers when you pull a handful up. If it is wet and sticky, add 1/4 cup more flour and mix for a few more minutes (resist the urge to add this flour if at all possible unless your dough is a sticky mess).
- Transfer the dough to a greased container. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. The dough should double in the refrigerator. UPDATE: a lot of you have reported back that your dough didn't rise much in the refrigerator overnight, but the donuts still turned out amazing - so if your dough doesn't rise, don't give up. Also, place your container of dough on a middle rack where it might not be as cold.
- Immediately out of the refrigerator, roll the chilled dough on a lightly greased countertop to about 1/4-inch thick (or slightly thicker). It should be about a 12X16-inch rectangle. Line half sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly grease the parchment.
- Cut the donuts and donut holes with a 3-inch donut cutter (with a 1-inch center) and place them on the prepared pans. Cut any excess dough into donut holes. Reroll scraps, if desired (donuts will be bumpier and not quite as tender - it helps to let the combined rerolled scraps rest for 15-20 minutes before rerolling to relax the gluten so the dough doesn't spring back while rolling).
- Let the donuts rise, uncovered, until noticeably puffy. I warm my oven to 140 degrees. Turn it off and place the sheet pans of donuts inside to rise for 20 minutes or so. On the counter, it may take 1-2 hours for the donuts to rise.
- Place a double layer of paper towels on a half sheet pan.
- Heat oil in a heavy pot to at least 2-inches deep or in an electric deep fryer following the manufacturers directions to 350 degrees F (or 365 degrees for darker donuts).
- Gently pick up the puffy donuts so they don't stretch and quickly place them in the hot oil (the bottoms of the risen donuts will be very soft from rising on the greased parchment; the donuts fry best with less air bubbles if they are placed in the oil SOFT SIDE UP). Don't overcrowd the pot or the oil temperature will fall too quickly.
- Cook the donuts until golden brown on the bottom, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Flip with tongs and continue cooking for another minute or so until golden. Lift the donuts out of the oil with the tongs, drain any excess oil, and transfer the cooked donuts to the paper towel lined baking sheet. (Donut holes should cook in about half the time)
- Let the oil come back to temperature before adding subsequent batches of donuts or donut holes.
- Prepare the glaze by whisking all the ingredients together until smooth. See the note below for thinning out the glaze. Place a wire cooling rack over a half sheet pan.
- Let the donuts cool until just warm to the touch before dipping fully in the glaze (if the donuts are too warm, the glaze will drip almost completely off). Place the glazed donuts on the wire rack so excess glaze can drip on the sheet pan below.
- For donut holes, I toss a couple dozen of them in the glaze at the same time, roll them around with my hands until evenly coated, and then transfer them to the wire rack.
- Once the glaze is set on the donuts, they can be transferred to a plate or other serving dish. The donuts are best served fresh but can be reheated the next day - a quick 12-15 second zap in the microwave has them tasting *mostly* fresh.
Notes
- Measure flour lightly to avoid dense dough; fluff and spoon, then level off rather than packing flour.
- For Kitchen Aid mixers, start with 5 cups flour and add more if dough is too sticky to prevent density.
- The dough benefits from a slow rise in the refrigerator for lighter donuts; avoid quick room temperature rising to prevent dense texture.
- The recipe can be halved for smaller batches without changing rising or cooking times.
- Active dry yeast can substitute instant yeast by proofing 2 to 2¼ teaspoons in warm water with sugar before adding; reduce milk by ¼ cup.
- Adjust glaze thickness by adding more powdered sugar if desired.
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Overall Rating
4.8
410 reviews
Excellent
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