Gluten free doughnuts….hot, covered in vanilla glaze, pillowy soft, fluffy, and so delicious you want to swoon when you take the first bite. Yes! You’re reading that right. Hot, yeast-risen doughnuts can be yours on a gluten free diet.
Keep reading… and make you sure you clear your schedule for Friday night and Saturday morning, because you’re going to be making gluten free doughnuts this weekend!
How did these doughnuts come about? Well, after a couple of months of living in our RV and not making any new recipes, I was ready for a challenge. We happened to pass a doughnut display in a grocery store one Friday night and John and I both looked at each other and without a word being spoken I knew what I would be making for breakfast the next morning.
The recipe that I’m giving you here is actually the 2nd attempt at this. The first flour mix that I tried was too heavy, so I tried a different one a few weeks later and it worked perfectly. It’s just another good example that the flours you use do make a difference.
There are several steps to this recipe and I was serious when I said to clear your Friday night. You dough has to be started on Friday night and if you don’t get a relatively early start, then you’ll be up to 1:00 AM like I was =)
Also, set an alarm for Saturday morning if you’ll need to wake up before your kitchen assistants. The doughnuts need to sit for an hour before they go into the fryer, so I try to get up and do that early, before little people with little hands wake up and start trying to flatten my gluten free doughnuts.
These doughnuts are delicious with the glaze recipe at the end of this post, but we also enjoyed them spread with Nutella.
Instructions
Yield: Approximately 1.5 dozen doughnuts.
- 1 c. warm water
- 2 envelopes active dry yeast (1.5 Tbsp)
- 1 c. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 2/3 c. butter, softened *
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3.5 c. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp. xanthan gum
- 1/2 gallon of oil (for frying)
*ÂDairy free butter substitutes like Vegan Buttery Sticks or coconut oil would work.
Step 1:
Add the yeast to the warm water and proof for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of flour, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 30 minutes.
Step 2:
Whisk the sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, and salt together and add it to the yeast/flour mixture. Then add in the remaining 3.5 c. of flour and the xanthan gum. Mix the dough together for several minutes. The dough should be somewhat thick but still soft, not thick enough that you think “this is going to be easy to roll out”, but more like “this dough may be a bit too soft to work with”
Step 3:
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm spot for 2 hours. Then put it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, (but up to 16 hours) and get some sleep.
Step 4:
Rise and shine! Roll out the dough to 3/8″ thick. Use a 3″ round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut out the doughnut, and then cut a 1″ hole (or thereabouts) in the middle of each with a floured knife. Re-roll the scraps and continue as above until you’ve used all of the dough. Let the doughnuts rise in a warm place for an hour. Do not cover them – the exterior needs to dry out slightly.
Step 5:
Pour the oil into a large deep skillet (or stock pot) and heat it to 375 degrees F. I start the oil after the doughnuts have risen for 45 minutes so that everything is ready at the same time. Carefully drop a few doughnuts into the hot oil, being careful not to crowd. When one side has browned nicely (this doesn’t take long) flip the doughnut over and cook until the other side has browned as well. Cut one of the first doughnuts in two to make sure they are completely cooked and adjust your oil temperature as needed.
Step 6:
When the doughnuts come out of the oil, lay them on a cooling rack or paper towels to drain. Once they’ve cooled just a little bit, roll them in the vanilla glaze and set them on a cooling rack.
Step 7:
Sit down and eat while these are still hot. Keep eating until you can’t move or the doughnuts are all gone =)
Vanilla Almond Glaze
- 1 c. confectioner’s sugar
- 2 – 3 Tbsp. water
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract
Just stir briskly until all of the ingredients are combined. Make more as needed!
