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Dessert

Bakers' Raised Doughnuts

A sweet, lard‑fried doughnut filled with a raisin and coated in powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Bakers' Raised Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Warm a teacupful of lard in a pint of milk.

  2. When nearly cool, add enough flour to make a thick batter and add a small cupful of yeast.

  3. Beat it well and set it to rise.

  4. When light, work in gradually and carefully three cupfuls of sugar, the whipped whites of six eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a spoonful of milk, one teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon and half of a nutmeg grated.

  5. Then work in gradually enough flour to make it stiff enough to roll out.

  6. Let it rise again and when very light roll it out in a sheet an inch thick.

Shape and fry

  1. Cut into rounds.

  2. Put into the centre of each round a large Sultana raisin, seeded, and mold into perfectly round balls. Flatten a little.

  3. Let them stand a few minutes before boiling them.

  4. Have plenty of lard in the pot and when it boils drop in the cakes.

  5. When they are a light brown, take them out with a perforated skimmer.

  6. Drain on soft white paper and roll, while warm, in fine powdered sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

749Calories
28 gProtein
15 gFat
123 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Makes the thick batter rise, giving the doughnuts a light, airy crumb.
Eggs
Whipped whites add lightness and structure to the enriched dough.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the doughnuts brown in the hot lard.
Lard (in the method)
Enriches the dough with fat, tenderising its texture and adding richness.
Soda
Reacts with the dough to help it lift and stay tender.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise until very light before frying. Rolling and frying an under-proofed dough yields dense doughnuts, because the yeast gas that gives lightness has not yet built up enough structure.

“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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