Fried Donut Recipe - Old-fashioned no yeast
The best fried donut recipe, no yeast, old-fashioned from scratch homemade donuts made just like Ma Ingall's!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lard or other traditional fat of choice
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Heat the fat in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium low heat. You want the oil to reach 375 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, salt, and baking soda.
- Add flour to the bowl and mix to combine. Knead for one minute to form a smooth dough.
- Roll dough on a floured surface to 1/4" thick. Cut into 1/2" wide strips.
- Twist each strip, then bring the ends together and form a circle. Pinch ends tight.
- Drop carefully into the hot fat and allow to brown and cook 2 minutes.
- Remove from oil, and lay on paper towel to drain. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately.
Notes
If the donuts take more than 3 minutes to brown, the fat is not hot enough. If they brown in less than 2 minutes, the fat is too hot.
If you can't get your donuts to turn over, check for these possible issues:
- Not enough fat in the pan. The donuts need to be swimming well above the bottom of the pan in order to turn.
- Too many donuts in the pan at once. Cut the number of donuts down to 2-3 at a time, so they have the room they need to move.
- Not twisting the dough tight enough. I found that I needed to turn my wrists 4 times each, twisting to get the right "corkscrew" effect. You will still need to be careful because the dough can break when twisting.
- Too rough handling of the dough. Be gentle when rolling it out and only mess with it just enough to roll and cut.
- The dough is too thick. Roll the dough to 1/4" thick. Any more, and the donuts won't hold together and they will come apart in the oil.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!