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Plain Raised Doughnuts

Plain raised doughnuts made with flour, sugar, spices, yeast, milk, and fried in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plain Raised Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together.

  2. In another bowl, combine the sugar and spices.

  3. Mix the spiced sugar into the flour mixture.

  4. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the yeast.

  5. Pour the warm milk into the well and mix to form a soft dough.

  6. Knead gently on a floured surface until just combined.

  7. Let the dough rise overnight or for 5-6 hours during the day.

  8. Gently knead the dough again and let it rise for a second time.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll out the dough to about ½ inch thick and cut into strips.

  2. Shape each strip into a doughnut and prepare for frying.

  3. Heat lard in a deep frying pan until it hisses when dough is added.

  4. Fry the doughnuts until golden brown, ensuring the lard remains at a steady temperature.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
Yeast
Produces gas during the rise, making the doughnuts light and airy.
Warm sweet milk
Hydrates the flour and dissolves sugar, moistening the dough and feeding the yeast.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown during frying.
Lard
Frying fat that cooks the doughnuts quickly and gives a golden, crisp exterior.

The step that matters

Keep the lard at a steady temperature while frying. If the fat is too cool, doughnuts absorb grease and turn heavy; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks. Steady heat gives an even, golden result.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, milk):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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