Donuts and bakery dreams
May 20, 2008
The bakery fantasy is in full swing now. We’ve been looking at bakery cases online (those things are expensive..) and the other night we cozied up in bed with a notebook and wrote down a list of everything we want to have at the bakery. One of the things that we both are really excited about is…..donuts. We have been wanting to try and make our own donuts for the longest time now. Josh’s dad used to take those biscuit rolls from the grocery store, poke holes in them and fry them as donuts…and for anyone who has ever tried this knows that they taste realllly good. So Josh has been set on making a donut dough that will make donuts that tastes like those fried biscuit-donuts, and he tried once before using a recipe he found online but instead of donuts he got more of a fried, dense bread thing. It wasn’t good at all. So like most other things, we decided if we want them to taste the way we want them to taste, we’re going to have to make them ourselves.
Donuts had been on our minds for weeks when one night while watching TV there a show all about donuts in America. We watched it of course…in all its deep fried, sugar coated, glaze dripping glory. I’m pretty sure one of us yelled out “THAT’S IT!” and we grabbed the computer and started researching how to make donuts. We learned that there are two kinds of donuts; yeast donuts, and cake donuts. Cake donuts don’t have yeast, which make them more cakey and dense. Yeast donuts are more like the donuts we’re accustomed to, they’re more airy and I personally like the flavor better. So we decided to go with the yeast donuts.
We mixed all the ingredients, kneaded the dough, kneaded it some more, and let it rise for about an hour and a half. Then we realized we didn’t have any cookie cutters to make the donut shapes. So we grabbed Olly and walked down to our local kitchen supply store and bought a set of circle cookie cutters. It was kind of expensive but I figured we’ll have them forever and they sure will come in handy when we open our bakery (more dreaming..) Here’s Josh rolling out the dough
When Josh gets in baking mode there’s no stopping him..and I absolutely love it because he usually wants to be the one to do the rolling and kneading and all the hard work, leaving me to take pictures and dream about our bakery some more 
By now it’s probably around 4pm and we had started baking around 1pm. I started to realize that for most people, if they get a donut craving they go to 7-11 or Krispy Kreme and get a donut or 2. But for those of us who are vegan, if we want a donut we have to find a recipe, veganize the recipe, spend hours making it, and hope to all things holy that it turns out tasting like those familiar donuts we were craving. I was thinking about all of this while I was kneading the dough for 10 minutes and realizing how much work goes into the things we make. I think it is a good value not only to have for ourselves but to instill in our children, that you have to work for the things you really want, instead of just walking across the street to 7-11 and buying it.
Anyway, back to the donuts. After we cut them into their shapes they had to rise for another 30-45 minutes. They rose really nicely and started to look like the delicious donuts they were about to become. So we got out our deep fryer (I knew we bought that thing for a reason) and began frying. I wanted to coat them in powdered sugar but we were all out, so we opted for a cinnamon and sugar topping. Josh took the first taste, and they were all we had ever imagined.
The texture was dead-on classic donuty. The cinnamon and sugar topping made it sweet but not rot your teeth out sweet. And now that we know we have a good base recipe, I’ve been fantasizing about jelly donuts, bear claws, donut holes, and every other yummy donut creation. These will definitely be going in the zine.
Oh and p.s., today is my 3 year vegan anniversary! I think I’ll go make some more donuts to celebrate
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: vegan donuts.
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1.
Alice (in Veganland) | May 20, 2008 at 11:14 am
It is not only important to learn the value of the things you have: when you have to make your own donuts, you eat them only when you’re really really craving them, it’s not as easy as going to the store. You eat less, and you eat more variety!
2.
Celine | May 20, 2008 at 12:06 pm
your donuts look wonderful!
keep on bakery-dreaming, it’s bound to happen sooner than later.
3.
veganhomemade | May 20, 2008 at 12:32 pm
WOW. Wow wow wow. This is seriously impressive to me. I was always more of a cake than yeast fan, but you can be sure I’d come into your bakery and purchase these guys. Nice work!
4.
Paulina | May 21, 2008 at 6:07 pm
My mouth was watering the whole time I read your “donut” post! I haven’t had a donut in such a long time, so I think it’s about time I made some myself, right?
Congrats on your vegan anniversary – that’s always something to be proud of!
5.
Kala | May 21, 2008 at 9:46 pm
You guys are amazing, I’m so jealous!
6.
Liz² | May 22, 2008 at 7:13 am
those look perfect! I’m definitely with you on veganism instilling patience and working-for-your-treats kinda mindsets, I think it’s great.
And I didn’t know you were thinking of opening a bakery, that’s so exciting, and happy veggieversary, too! ^_^
7.
Lisa (Show Me Vegan) | May 24, 2008 at 6:59 am
Great lookin’ donuts, you two! Happy veganversary. I just read your “about” and was tickled to see that you inspired so many family members to go vegan too. What a cool family!
8.
sarchan | May 25, 2008 at 1:52 pm
You doughnut photos are so lovely.
And I agree, veganism does instill a more diy mentality, especially when you don’t live somewhere like NYC or Portland.
9.
Amey | May 27, 2008 at 12:56 am
congratulations on your beautiful donuts. Mmm. It’s been years since I’ve had a proper yeasty donut. Even the cakey ones are hard to come by in vegan-form around here.
I’ve thought a lot about this idea of how veganism makes us a bit more responsible for what we eat. It’s part blessing and part curse. In one sense, I’d really love to go out for breakfast and order French toast. But on the other hand, I’ve come to really enjoy knowing just what’s in my food and how it’s been prepared…
10.
Brazilian dude (Jonas) | May 30, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Hey!
Whenever your zine gets ready, will you please send it to Brazil?
I’d kill for the recipe of those donuts!
Serious! they look terrifically good!
Congratulations on your vegan anniversary!
11.
jessy | May 30, 2008 at 9:57 pm
wow! these donuts look soooooo amazing! and i wanted to say congrats on the 3 year vegan anniversary! that’s so freak’n awesome! w00t!
12.
Glenn (Dad) | June 2, 2008 at 5:40 am
Get out the front door!!! They look delicious…hey baby, you think you might make some of those sweet lookin’ doughnuts (old spelling) for us at home this weekend? huh, please, pretty please?
Happy 3rd!
13.
Ruby Red Vegan | June 2, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Those donuts would have me knocking on the door of your bakery, that’s for sure!
14.
Sara | June 11, 2008 at 10:27 am
Wow! I used to never like donuts until I became vegan – weird I know. I only craved them about once a year or so, and I always preferred the cake. I would love to make my own – share the recipe!!! Or at least give us an acceptable substitute if you don’t want to share all your secrets (saving them for the bakery, i understand)…
15.
sabjimata | June 11, 2008 at 2:07 pm
your donuts look great. oh, to eat a real donut again!
16.
melisser | June 13, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I made the lemon curd based off a Bryanna Clark Grogan recipe: http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/leftovers-for-lunch-making-vegan.html
I do doctor it a bit, but it’s quite good like that! It thickens up A LOT in the fridge.
p.s. Mail me a donut, please!