Sour Cream Donuts with a Tender Crumb

Sour Cream Donuts with a Tender Crumb keeps the shopping list focused on pastry flour all-purpose flour is fine, baking powder, and kosher salt. It serves 13 Donuts.

Count on 30 minutes of prep, 30 minutes of cooking, 2 hours of resting, about 3 hours from the first measurement to the plate.

Ingredients Method

What goes in the bowl

For the Donuts

• 4 ¾ cups pastry flour all-purpose flour is fine
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
• 2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 ½ cups sour cream
• 96 oz vegetable oil for frying, can also use shortening

For the Glaze

• ⅓ cups whole milk 100 ML
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar

How the cooking goes

Make the donut dough

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and kosher salt to distribute. Keep it to one side.
2. Line a large mixing bowl with plastic wrap then then spray the surface of the plastic wrap with nonstick spray. Set this aside too.
3. In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the granulated sugar and butter on high speed until the butter has completely incorporated. There is too much sugar in proportion to butter to look “light and fluffy.”.
4. Add the egg yolks and continue to beat on high until the mixture lightens and the volume increases. This will take about 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the mixture a few times to be sure it is all evenly incorporated.
5. With the electric mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl a large spoonful at a time alternating with spoonfuls of sour cream. Add the next spoonful when you only see a few large streaks of flour left in the bowl. You alternate almost nonstop between the two. Stop the mixer to scrape in the last bit of sour cream. Only mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. You want to do this as quickly as possible so that not too much gluten develops, which will make tunnels in your donuts and also make them tough.
6. Move the dough to the plastic wrap lined bowl. Spray the top of the dough with nonstick spray and then fold the edges of the plastic over the top to cover it. Refrigerate for 60 minutes. At this point, the dough can be held in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Portion and cut dough

1. Line a half-sheet baking pan with baking paper and spray the paper with nonstick spray. Set this aside.
2. Lightly dust a work surface with flour. While the dough is still in the bowl, dust the top of the dough with flour. Turn the dough out onto your floured work surface, floured side down. Lightly dust the top with more flour.
3. Working quickly to keep the dough cool, roll out the dough to ½ inch thick.
4. Brush any excess flour from the top of the dough. Use 3-inch and 1 ¼ – inch ring cutters to cut the donuts and holes. You can use a donut cutter, biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, or even the rim of a glass! Lightly tap the cutters in flour before cutting each donut. Place the donuts and donut holes on the prepared sheet pan.
5. Cover sheet pan with plastic wrap, but be sure not to let the plastic touch the top of the donuts. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes up to overnight at this step.

Make the glaze

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, powdered sugar and salt. Cover the glaze with plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent it from getting a skin. You can heat up the glaze over a pot of simmering water on the stove if you want it to be warm. You typically dip the donuts while they are still very hot, so you don’t need to do this.

Fry the donuts

1. Pour oil into a fryer or a Dutch oven, making sure the oil is at least 2 inches deep. Heat your oil to 350°F. Adjust your heat to keep the temperature between 350°- 360°F while frying. You will need a clip-on fry/candy thermometer for this. You heat the oil up to 360°F before adding a batch of donuts, because the cold dough will lower the temperature of the fryer oil.
2. Gently place 3-5 donuts in the fryer, while keeping the remaining donuts in the fridge. The number you can fry at once depends on the size of your pot. You want the donuts to have room to move around and space to puff. Once they rise to the surface, cook for 30 seconds and then flip them with a slotted spoon. Fry until the bottom develops a nice deep gold color, about 80 seconds. Flip it again and then fry for another 80 seconds or until the color is a nice even deep gold. You usually test mine with a cake tester. Pull it out of the oil, poke it and then pull the cake tester out. It should not have any streaks of dough or crumbs. Move it onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan or paper towels. Donut holes fry for 30 seconds then flip, then another 60 seconds, then flip, then another 40-60 seconds. They will puff up and be deep gold all over.
3. Once the donut is just barely cool enough to handle, dip the donut in the glaze and place it back on the wire rack. Dipping a hot donut will give you a nice, even glaze that isn’t too thick or too thin!
4. Store at ambient temperature in a container with the corner cracked overnight but they are best consumed the day they are fried…with coffee.

After it comes off the heat

Chill it for the time the method names before serving. Keep leftovers covered in the refrigerator.

If you want another plate from Donuts, open Krispy Kreme Donut with a Tender Crumb and Donut Glaze with a Tender Crumb.