Traditional Taiwanese Donut 傳統台式甜甜圈
These deep-fried rings of happiness from my childhood are the donuts you can find on the street from street vendors in Taiwan. They are covered with sugar with no fillings or icing, always freshly deep-fried, warm and crispy. There was a street vendor selling this right outside of the main gate of my elementary school (primary school) when I was little. This recipe is adapted from my favourite Taiwanese food blogger Carol’s recipe, which can be found here in mandarin.
The first time I told my husband I was going to make Taiwanese donuts he was not very excited - probably because of how plain they look. What he did not know was how good donuts can be when they are freshly made, right out of the deep fryer. Sure enough I was right - the Brits at home who had never tasted fresh donuts before were obsessed.
These donuts do deteriorate quite fast, like all real deep-fried goodies. You can warm the left over up in the oven next day, or make less (although if using a stand mixer it is easier with more dough), or just eat loads on the day - trust me, it is not hard.
Traditionally Taiwanese donuts are covered with sugar, and that was what I did in the video. However I actually rolled some in ground cinnamon and sugar (thinking churros!) afterwards, and they were bomb as well.
And here is the recipe…
Ingredients
for 12 donuts
200 g bread flour
100 g plain flour
40 g sugar
1 tsp salt
12 g milk powder
3 g instant yeast
1 egg
150 g water
30 g unsalted butter, soften
for finishing
4 tbsp sugar, to cover the donuts
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (optional but highly recommended)
Method
Weigh and mix all ingredients except butter in a stand mixer with a dough hook on medium speed.
Add butter to the stand mixer bowl when dough is thoroughly mixed. Keep kneading until it is ready (smooth and can stretch without breaking - although sometimes I am impatient and probably do not knead the dough enough but it was never a real problem with this recipe.)
Prove the covered dough until it is twice the size, about an hour in room temperature (24°C).
Roll the dough out to about 1 cm thick on the table sprinkled with a bit of flour. Cut the donut shape with whatever you have. I use a tea cup to cut the outer circle, then a wine bottom lid for the inner circle.
Prove the cut-outs for another 30 mins, uncovered or loosely covered with a wet cloth (I use some glasses to hold the cloth up so the cloth does not touch the dough.)
Deep fry at 160°C until both sides are golden brown, about 1-2 mins each side. You will need enough oil so when the donuts go in and expand they do not touch the bottom of your pan.
Rolled in sugar when they are still quite warm but not too hot. If let cool the sugar will not stick.
傳統台式甜甜圈是我童年的美好回憶。從小家裡很少外食，所以路上小吃攤販賣的東西都看起來特別吸引人。小學時，放學後的校門外常有個攤販賣台式甜甜圈和雙胞胎。啊，現炸的熱呼呼的甜甜圈還是不一樣啊。我用的食譜是以Carol自在生活：古早味甜甜圈為基礎調整的，做過N次了，Carol老師的食譜真的很可靠。
第一次和老公說我要來做台式甜甜圈時他很是懷疑，大概是因為網路上的照片看起來實在太樸素了。這些只吃過非現炸甜甜圈的人完全無法想像現炸甜甜圈的滋味，看起來簡單樸素的台式甜甜圈第一次就成功俘虜家裡那些只吃過非現炸甜甜圈的英國人。
因為是自家炸的甜甜圈，跟所有其他現炸食物一樣，剛炸出來最好吃，放涼到隔天後就差很多了。隔天的甜甜圈可以用烤箱稍微加熱，或者乾脆一開始就做少一點（但如果用桌上型攪拌機麵團太少會有點困難），或者直接當天炸完盡情大吃——一點也不困難，哈哈哈哈。
傳統的台式甜甜圈上面是撒糖粉，我影片拍攝時也是撒（滾）糖粉，不過事後有些我撒了肉桂粉加糖粉（想說來個吉拿棒風味），超級好吃，很推薦。
食譜
材料
12個甜甜圈
200 公克 高筋麵粉
100 公克 低筋麵粉
40 公克 糖
1 茶匙 鹽
12 公克 奶粉
3 公克 速發酵母粉
1 顆 蛋
150 公克 水
30 公克 無鹽奶油，室溫軟化
表面糖粉
4 大匙 糖
1 大匙 肉桂粉（非必要，但非常推薦）
做法
秤量並混合所有除了奶油以外的材料，放入裝上麵團勾頭的桌上型攪拌機。
麵團攪拌均勻後加入奶油，讓攪拌機攪拌到麵團完成（光滑且撐開薄膜不會破——但其實我常常太懶就沒有揉到那麼好，做出來的甜甜圈也沒太大差別）。
麵團放入乾淨盆中，盆子蓋上濕布，室溫發酵至兩倍大，大約一小時（室溫攝氏24度）。
桌上撒些麵粉，將麵團桿成約一公分厚片狀，以你有的工具切出甜甜圈的形狀。我用茶杯切出外圍的大圓，再用酒瓶瓶蓋切出中間的小圓。
切好的甜甜圈麵團在室溫繼續發酵三十分鐘，可以稍微用濕布稍微掩蓋（我用玻璃杯把布撐起來，不讓布碰到麵團）。
以油溫攝氏160度油炸，炸到兩面金黃，每面大約一到兩分鐘。油不能太少，油若太少在麵團入油鍋膨脹後會碰到鍋底。
趁還溫熱時滾上糖粉，若放涼了糖粉就無法附著了。
