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Dessert

Bakers' Raised Doughnuts

A sweet doughnut made with lard, milk, flour, yeast, sugar, egg whites, and spices, then fried and dusted with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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

Make the sponge

  1. Warm the lard in the milk until nearly cool.

  2. Add enough flour to make a thick batter.

  3. Mix in the yeast.

  4. Beat well.

  5. Set aside to rise until light.

Make the dough

  1. Gradually work in the sugar, whipped egg whites, baking soda dissolved in milk, salt, cinnamon, and grated nutmeg.

  2. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough for rolling out.

  3. Let the dough rise again until very light.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll out the dough to 1 inch thick.

  2. Cut the dough into rounds.

  3. Place a seeded Sultana raisin in the center of each round.

  4. Mold the rounds into round balls.

  5. Flatten the balls slightly.

  6. Let them stand for a few minutes before frying.

  7. Heat plenty of lard in a pot until boiling.

  8. Drop the doughnuts into the boiling lard.

  9. Fry until light brown.

  10. Remove the doughnuts with a perforated skimmer.

  11. Drain on soft white paper.

  12. Roll the warm doughnuts in powdered sugar.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Builds the batter and dough structure that holds the rises and shape.
Yeast
Produces gas during rising, making the dough light and airy.
Egg whites
Add structure and lightness to the dough when whipped in.
Lard
Adds richness and tenderness to the dough and provides the frying fat.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the doughnuts brown when fried.
Baking soda
Reacts with the dough's acidity to add lift and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Frying at the right temperature. Lard must be fully boiling before the doughnuts go in. If the fat is too cool, the dough absorbs grease and turns heavy; if it is too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks through.

“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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