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Dessert

German Doughnuts

A yeast-based doughnut made with bread sponge, eggs, sugar, butter, fried in lard, topped with confectioner's sugar frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

German Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, mix the bread sponge, eggs, sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt.

  2. Let the mixture rise until light, similar to bread.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll the dough to about ½ inch thick and cut with a small baking powder can.

  2. Let the cut dough rise again.

  3. Fry the dough in hot lard until they are almost round and golden.

Frost and serve

  1. For the frosting, boil 1 cup of confectioner's sugar with 1 egg until smooth.

  2. Serve the doughnuts warm with coffee.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread sponge
Provides the yeast-leavened base that gives the dough its rise and bread-like texture.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the dough hold its shape and turn golden.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the doughnuts brown when fried.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the dough.

The step that matters

Fry the dough in hot lard until golden. If the lard is not hot enough, the doughnuts absorb excess fat and turn greasy; if it is too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks. Steady, moderate heat gives a light, evenly cooked doughnut.

“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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