Sad Little Donuts

 Every now and then, I lose sight of the fact that I'm not a domestic goddess.

Alas, the homemaker gene skipped over me, but sometimes I forget and attempt to bake something I've no experience with.

And so, here we are this morning, me and my brand spanking new air fryer and a recipe I copied from a book about "simple" things to make in an air fryer.

I'm no virgin when it comes to working with yeast dough. In spite of my spotty talents, I have been able to make a tea ring and bake bread. In fact, a few weeks ago, I resurrected a recipe for Sally Lunn bread. It's a sweet, soft creation Mr. and I fell in love with when we lived in Alexandria. They used to serve it at Gadsby's Tavern, one of George Washington's old haunts.

Perhaps it was because I was buoyed by my success with Sally that I felt I could tackle this donut recipe. After all, dough is dough, right?

Well, not so much as it turned out. 

I meticulously added the ingredients and followed instructions. At least until I got to the part where they wanted me to knead the dough. I looked at the sticky mess in the bowl and realized it isn't the sort of dough you can knock about with your knuckles – it will all end up glued in between your fingers and any other surface it touches. So, using the wooden spoon, I stirred and folded it vigorously, mimicking the movements I'd use if I was kneading it.

Then I set it out to rise in a warm place. I figured if I put it in front of a heating vent, that would do the trick. 

Alas, it didn't budge much. But I soldiered bravely on to the next step.

The recipe instructed me to roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut it into shapes using a 3" cutter and a 1" cutter for the holes.

Harkening back to my Mom's ingenuity (because I don't have specialized cutters), I found a glass that measured 3" and another kitchen tool that was 1". I placed the glass upside down and managed to form the donuts, then made the holes. In the interest of full disclosure, I cheated on the holes, because I just took the leftover dough and rolled them into balls.

The next step was to put the wannabe donuts on a floured baking sheet and let them rise for another 30 minutes. This time, I turned the oven on low (250°) and set the tray on top of the stove where the heat vents. They rose a little, but not much. Desperate times calling for desperate measures, I turned the oven off and stuck the tray inside for an extra 15 minutes. This helped a little, and I decided the poor things were as plump as they were ever going to get. 

Then it was time to put them in the air fryer to bake/fry. The instructions said to load two donuts and two holes at a time and let them go for four to five minutes.

This was the first time using my new fryer, but it's pretty easy to naviagate. Just load 'em up, set the temperature and time and off you go.

The little buggers came out nicely browned. I dumped them in the glaze and on the cooling rack to cure. 

They certainly were a sad looking little lot, I must say, as you can see from the photo.

On the other hand, they were pretty tasty. And my Mom always said it didn't matter how things looked, really, as long as they were good.

Plus, now I can say I've inaugurated my new air fryer.

So yay, me!