Why are donut ingredients important?
Donut ingredients are what make a donut a donut. Donut ingredients are all in the recipe because every component plays a role in the eventual taste and texture of the donut.
Ingredients for perfect donuts
No matter what your recipe is, the perfect donut always starts with the right ingredients.
Ingredients are the building material of a donut. Just like the choice of building material results in a house, the material used to make a donut will have a certain result.
Too much of one ingredient will not only change or ruin the taste, but it may lead to complete failure destined for the dustbin – or the dog!
For any donut you’ll need the basic ingredients of
- Flour
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Milk
- Baking powder or baking soda or yeast
- Butter or margarine
- Salt
The baker can use different flavoring ingredients such as butter or apple sauce in place of margarine to enhance one part of the recipe, but the basics stay the same. If you change the basics completely you end up with something else but a donut.
Flour
All-purpose flour is the preferred flour for donuts and it forms the core structure of the donut.
Plain flour works best for any baking product that requires leavened dough. Flour is made from wheat grains and all-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten to create a binding effect in the dough. This binding ensures that air bubbles can be trapped and kept inside the mixed dough, which in turn helps with creating the “fluffy” texture of the donut.
Flour is the cement that keeps the other material together. Flour also interacts with the other ingredients to create a texture that is pleasant to the human palate and makes it digestible.
Sugar
Sugar has an important place in the list of donut ingredients.
Sugar is a liquefier that absorbs water, weakens the gluten structure, and makes the dough fluffier. The dough expands more when baking with sugar which results in an airier and softer donut.
Sugar also serves as a natural preservative by extracting water and reducing the activity of water in the dough. This improves the shelf life of the donuts.
If you use yeast as a raising agent, sugar acts as the activator for the yeast to produce carbon dioxide and make the dough rise.
It also adds sweetness to your donuts.
Eggs
Eggs help the dough to rise and keep the carbon dioxide bubbles that the yeast created, in the dough. If the carbon dioxide escapes, the dough would fall flat.
Eggs provide structure because it coagulates and let the risen dough keep its state. It also helps with leavening, provides moisture and it provides flavor and color.
Milk
Milk increases water absorption which results in a softer dough than dough made with water. Softer dough results in a fluffier donut.
Milk also contains fat which contributes to the moisture content, and texture, adds protein to the donut dough, and creates a slightly sweet taste.
Baking powder, baking soda, or yeast
We wrote elsewhere about the nature of yeast in yeast donuts and baking powder in cake donuts.
All these ingredients serve as raising or leavening agents, but it also contributes to the taste of the product. Any product baked with yeast has a peculiar taste, especially yeast bread.
Butter or margarine
Butter and margarine are fats that texture the dough and provide a certain feel in the mouth.
Butter has more water than margarine but provides an opportunity for browning, a nutty taste, and a caramelized flavor. Butter is a dairy product.
Margarine with no water is said to result in a lighter and flakier dough. Margarine is a plant-based product.
Salt
Salt provides taste and acts as a tightener of the gluten strands in the dough to make it stronger and enable the dough to capture and hold carbon dioxide more effectively.
It makes the dough rise faster but leads to a loss of flavor, although that will hardly be noticeable in a donut.
Donut glaze
Glaze or frosting is a simple mixture of milk, powdered sugar, and flavoring. It adds shine to the donut and also makes it sweet.
Most home-baked donuts will have a glaze made from melted butter, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. The vanilla provides flavor.
You can add food coloring to the glaze mixture and add sprinkles on top to make it even more interesting.
The thicker (drier) the glazing mixture, the slower it will flow. Adjust the consistency of the glaze by adding a little more sugar if it is too liquidy, or adding water if it seems too thick.
Glaze is poured over donuts while it is still warm.
Wrap-up
Donut ingredients are super important and should not be changed unless you know what you do.
They ensure the appearance and taste of the donuts and make the difference between an enjoyable and an inedible donut.