Popular in decades past, doughnuts still have fans

By Donna Pierce

After we printed a reader’s request for a doughnut recipe, many others sent us their family recipes. One of them was Gail Creath of Lake Forest, Ill.: “I have been waiting for a request like this for years,” she wrote. “One of our daughters composed a family cookbook and included this as a favorite.”

The recipe, she added, is based on one from Gert Runkle, whose doughnuts were popular items at summer bake sales in the 1960s and ’70s at St. Patrick parish in Lake Forest.

SUMMER BAKE SALE DOUGHNUTS

2 packages ( 1‚Ñ4 ounce each) active dry yeast

21‚Ñ2 cups warm water, 105-115 degrees

2 eggs, well beaten

3‚Ñ4 cup each: vegetable shortening, granulated sugar

8 to 8 1‚Ñ2 cups flour

21‚Ñ2 teaspoons each: salt, cinnamon

1 bottle (48 ounces) canola oil

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Add yeast to the warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the eggs, shortening and granulated sugar until smooth.

Beat in 4 cups of the flour, 1 cup at a time, with an electric mixer on medium speed just until combined. Stir in 2 cups of the flour. Mix in the remaining 2 cups with your hands, adding more as needed to form a soft dough. Cover; let rise 2 hours at room temperature or refrigerate 12 hours.

Punch down the dough; roll out to 1‚Ñ2-inch thickness on a well-floured board. Cut into doughnuts with a 31‚Ñ2-inch doughnut cutter or biscuit cutter. (If using a biscuit cutter, cut out the center doughnut holes with a 1‚Ñ2-inch cutter.) Reroll scraps of dough to cut more doughnut holes. Place on floured baking sheets; let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Heat oil to 375 degrees in a Dutch oven. Add doughnuts, three at a time. Cook 45 seconds; turn. Cook 45 seconds more. Dip in confectioners’ sugar; place on a paper-lined platter. Add doughnut holes to the oil. Cook, turning in the oil as needed, until lightly brown, about 20 seconds.

Yield: 30 doughnuts and 40 doughnut holes.

Nutrition information per serving (this is an approximate calculation for 1 doughnut and 1 doughnut hole): 268 calories, 44 percent of calories from fat, 13 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 14 mg cholesterol, 34 g carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 199 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

Adapted from a recipe from Gail Creath of Lake Forest.