WHAT YOU NEED:

Equipment:

• standing mixer
• thick bottom (I like a cast iron) pot.
• candy or frying thermometer
• baking sheet
• parchment paper
• cooling rack

Donut dough:

• 175 g active sourdough starter; shoot to have it at full peak, versus on the way down.
• 425 g organic unbleached all-purpose flour
• 220 g whole milk, room temperature
• 100 g cane sugar
• 50 g butter, melted and cooled a little
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• avocado oil or rendered tallow or lard for frying about 2 inch deep

Bacon topping:

• 5 pieces of bacon (we love Wild Pastures)Set a
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Maple glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2-4 tablespoons maple syrup

WHAT YOU DO:

Make the dough:

1. Add milk and starter to a standing mixer bowl and mix with your hand or a wooden spoon until fully combined. Then, add sugar and once again mixed till combined. Next, add the vanilla, nutmeg, se salt, and butter, and mix well. Now add the flour and mix with a fork to get your shaggy ball.
2. Move the bowl to the standing mixer with the dough hook attachments, and knead at low speed for 6-7 minutes (it’ll be sticky). Then, turn up the speed to medium, and knead for additional 6-7 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth, pulling from the sides of the bowl completely. If the dough is still super sticky, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and go for another minute or so.
3. Transfer the dough ball to a buttered bowl with enough room for it to rise. Cover air tight and let it bulk rise at room temp for 2 hours (if it’s cold in your kitchen, move to the oven with the light on). Then, move the bowl to the fridge for another 8-10 hour proof.

Shape the dough:

1. When it’s nearing fry time, scrape the dough onto a flour-dusted work surface. Use your hands to flatten it, gently and then switch to a rolling pin, and roll the dough into ~1/2 inch thick layer, dusting flour on top and underneath as needed to avoid sticking. We liked having maple bars so just cut them into rectangles, but if you’d like circle donuts, use a cookie cutter or a donut cutter with an extra tiny one for the center circle (the outer ring of a mason jar lid could work here too). Try not to mess with the leftover dough too much so you don’t punch the air out of it; I did bars to avoid having to overwork it.
2. Carefully lift the doughnuts and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with flour. If you do circle donut circles, keep those donut holes to fry up too.
3. If they seem like they could use an extra rise, give them another :30 or so to rise a bit more (though this isn’t necessary, and they get some extra rise time as you prep the next steps anyways).

Make the maple bacon bits and glaze:

1. Set a pan to low heat. Chop your bacon into super tiny bits and add to the low heat pan with maple syrup. Stir continuously until the turn into tiny candy bits; remove from heat and move to donut frying.
2. In a small bowl, hand mix the powdered sugar, sea salt, and maple syrup to make the glaze.

Fry the dough:

1. Add avocado oil to a pot deep enough to submerge a donut; to save money, we do one at a time to avoid filling a giant pot with avocado oil. The oil temperature should be around 320-330 F*. Gently lift the doughnuts (we did one at a time) and drop them into the oil.
2. They should take about 2-3 minutes to cook from one side. Then, gently flip them and cook on the other side for the same time. Watch them closely, and look for the golden brown color. Note that if the oil is too hot, the donuts will brown from the outside much faster and will be raw in the middle.
3. When done, gently remove from oil and transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel, and continue with the rest of the doughnuts.

Put it all together:

1. Let them cool just a bit (not too much, though; you’ll want these warm if possible – yum!), and then dip one side of the donut into the glaze and then straight into a plate of bacon bits. Repeat until all donuts are bacon-y.

ENJOY!! I hope these bring your kitchen as much joy as they did ours. These are a bit of a labor of love but also far simpler than I would’ve expected. Sourdough changes yet another food I thought I’d never fully enjoy again. Hello donuts.