Yummy tummy doughnuts

1. First I put the Warm Water in a bowl and the Yeast into that to activate it.

2. Meanwhile I prepare the Scalded Milk
For Scalded Milk all it entails is taking the milk to just before boiling as it kills the enzymes which inhibit the growth of the yeast.

3. I use a large Pyrex jug and pop in a bamboo stick (microwaveable utensil) in the bowl, so that the surface tension is broken. I then nuke it on full whack (900Watts) for 4mins.

4. Then I let it cool. I transfer it over to an old glass wine bottle (careful milk can scald easily) and put it in a jug and pour water over the bottle cooling it rapidly and equally.

5. Ok so next I combine the sugar, salt eggs, lard and 13oz of the flour with the yeast and cooled milk.

6. Once all mixed in, slowly add the remaining flour. Once smooth it should look like this. At this point I normally transfer it to a larger container. Cover it and leave it in a warm place to double in size. Time scale varies with the ambient temperature.

7. Ok so don't worry if it looks really quite wet, it is meant to be. I unfortunately no longer have a particularly large kitchen so have to do this recipe in three batches. You can see how wet the dough is.

8. Flour the working surface well, not forgetting the rolling pin. At this point it is worth turning on the tap (your fingers are about to get very sticky). Turn out an amount of Dough onto the floured worktop.

9. At this point I discovered that a certain person had pinched my doughnut cutter and was busy chewing it apart. (Cheeky Git). It must have knackered him out.

10. So in the end I used a pastry ring and an old medicine cup with bottom cut out (for the centre holes). It is worth getting your hands on a shaker as it makes life so much easier, anyway I sprinkle more flour on top of the dough and then roll it out to approximately 1/2 inch thick. I also keep moving the dough (stops it sticking) and then cut out the doughnuts.

11. Once Cut out, transfer them over to a clean surface covered with greaseproof paper/baking parchment. Cover once more and leave them will doubled in size. As before time scales are dependant on room temp.

12. Whilst you dough is rising again, I like to prepare the glaze/icing.
So with the melted butter, I mix in the icing sugar until its fully combined. Temperature of the butter is not vital.

13. I use this whole small can.

14. Stir in the Evaporated milk until you get to the consistency and flavour you fancy. If it is too rich a flavour you can use normal milk. The glaze should be quite fluid as you will be dipping the cooked Doughnuts in this glaze later.

15. Once the dough has risen, heat up the oil to approximately 180 Celsius. I use a deep fat fryer for ease of temperature control, otherwise a deep heavy based pan will work with an appropriate thermometer.

16. One by one slowly slip the dough into the hot oil. Cook the on each side for approximately a minute on each side (until light golden brown)

17. To turn them I use the same bamboo chopsitck to turn them over. Once cooked I drain the oil with paper towel.

18. Before transferring to a cooking rack and then dipping in the glaze and leaving to set. I only glaze the tops, but you can glaze both if you like

19. I struggled not to much as I went hence the one at the back being a much smaller stack.

20. So that's it. Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour xxx