Baked Sourdough Donuts Recipe – Delicious & Homemade

Published Categorized as Sourdough Discard Recipes Tagged

Looking for some interesting, and delicious sourdough recipes to try? Then try these easy baked sourdough donuts for dessert time!

Sourdough donut

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Delicious homemade sourdough baked donuts recipe

Sourdough Baked Donuts Recipe

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Sourdough donuts are incredibly delicious, complete with a light, airy crumb that go down a treat. This baked sourdough donut recipe involves an active sourdough starter, and a little patience to enable a good donut rise out of the dough. 

  • Total Time: 12 hrs 30 mins
  • Yield: 12 pieces 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 100g sourdough starter
  • 500g bread flour
  • 200g whole milk (room temperature)
  • 1 egg
  • 50g melted butter or coconut oil
  • 60g granulated sugar
  • 10g salt
  • 5g vanilla extract
  • 250g powdered sugar
  • 60g whole milk (from fridge)

Instructions

  1. Add milk, sugar and vanilla extract to a stand mixer bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Add the sourdough starter, flour, egg, coconut oil and salt. Set your stand mixer to the lowest setting, and use the dough hook to mix the donut batter till you’re left with a stretchy dough.
  3. Drop the dough into a separate bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Let the dough bulk ferment, and wait for it to double in size. This can take up to 12 hours .
  4. Once the donut dough has doubled, it’s time to shape the donuts. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.
  5. Roll the dough into balls, and poke your finger through the center of each ball. Gently pull, and stretch the dough so that there is a finger-width hole in the middle of each donut dough.
  6. Place the shaped donuts onto a donut pan, and cover with a cloth, allowing them to puff up nicely.
  7. Preheat your oven to 356 degrees F. Meanwhile brush your donuts with some melted butter or coconut oil. Place the donut pan full of donuts into the oven to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. They should be a nice golden brown shade when they’re done.
  8. Once they’ve cooled down, you can add your favorite toppings, or create a nice donut glaze, by mixing powdered sugar, milk and salt.
  • Author: Natasha Krajnc
  • Prep Time: 12 hrs
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Category: dessert

What is a Sourdough Discard?

Sourdough discard, refers to an unfed portion of sourdough starter that is normally discarded before feeding. A sourdough starter must be active and bubbly, before it can be included in sourdough baking. Once the starter becomes hungry, the portion that is thrown away is referred to as a discard.

Baked vs Fried Donuts

Fried donuts are made with yeast and left to rise before they are shaped and fried in very hot oil.

Homemade baked donuts, on the other hand, have no similarity to fried donuts, except for their rounded shapes. They’re made from batter and have a bready texture.

What is the Texture of Baked Sourdough Donuts?

Baked sourdough donuts have a pretty similar texture to a deep-fried donut. These sourdough donuts are made with traditional ingredients like eggs, milk, butter and flour. The only addition to this recipe is our natural leavening agent, which is the sourdough starter, instead of commercial yeast.

Contrary to what you may expect, sourdough donuts won’t have a cakey texture, because of the naturally occurring yeasts from the starter. Your sourdough donuts will emerge with a brilliant light, airy crumb, with a gorgeous chewy texture.

Sourdough donut

Baked Sourdough Donuts Recipe

This baked sourdough donut recipe, involves an active sourdough starter, and a little patience to enable a good donut rise out of the dough. Sourdough doughnuts are incredibly delicious, complete with a light, airy crumb that go down a treat.

Ingredients

  • 100g sourdough starter
  • 500g bread flour
  • 200g whole milk (room temperature)
  • 1 egg
  • 50g melted butter or coconut oil
  • 60g granulated sugar
  • 10g salt
  • 5g vanilla extract
  • 250g powdered sugar
  • 60g whole milk (from fridge)

Instructions

  1. Add milk, sugar and vanilla extract to a stand mixer bowl and mix until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Add the sourdough starter, flour, egg, coconut oil and salt. Set your stand mixer to the lowest setting, and use the dough hook to mix the donut batter till you’re left with a stretchy dough.
  3. Drop the dough into a separate bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Let the dough bulk ferment, and wait for it to double in size. This can take up to 12 hours .
  4. Once the donut dough has doubled, it’s time to shape the donuts. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces.
  5. Roll the dough into balls, and poke your finger through the center of each ball. Gently pull, and stretch the dough so that there is a finger-width hole in the middle of each donut dough.
  6. Place the shaped donuts onto a donut pan, and cover with a cloth, allowing them to puff up nicely.
  7. Preheat your oven to 356F, meanwhile brush your donuts with some melted butter or coconut oil. Place the donut pan full of donuts into the oven to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. They should be a nice golden brown shade when they’re done.
  8. Once they’ve cooled down, you can add your favourite toppings, or create a nice donut glaze, by mixing powdered sugar, milk and salt.

Bakers Schedule

It’s important to keep a baking schedule or timeline for sourdough recipes, as this will help you navigate your baking in-between fermentation and proofing times.

Day 1

  • 8 AM – Feed your sourdough starter
  • 12 PM – Make the dough and bulk ferment
  • 9 PM – Shape the donuts and place in the fridge for a second rise

Day 2

  • 7 AM – Remove the donuts from the fridge so that they reach room temperature
  • 8 AM – Preheat your oven
  • 9 AM – Bake the donuts
  • 10 AM – Cool and enjoy!

Making Sourdough Donuts with a Sourdough Discard

This particular recipe requires an active sourdough starter, that has been fed before proceeding.

If you wish to use a sourdough discard instead, you will need to include some commercial yeast into the mixture, to achieve a donut rise, though the rising time for the donut dough will be much shorter.

Toppings for Baked Sourdough Donuts

You can top your baked sourdough donuts with anything you like. Here are some topping ideas for you to try:

  • Milk sugar glaze – add 250g of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and 60g of milk. Whisk until you have a runny consistency.
  • Strawberry glaze – add 250g of powdered sugar, a little salt, 60g of milk and a tablespoon of strawberry jam, for that delicious strawberry flavoring.
  • Chocolate glaze – Add 250g of powdered sugar, salt, and 60g of milk, followed by a tablespoon of cocoa powder.
  • Cinnamon sugar – Melt 100g of butter into a bowl, then add 150g of sugar to another bowl. Follow this with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and mix until thoroughly combined. Dunk your donuts into the melted butter, and then into the cinnamon sugar. (And speaking of cinnamon sourdough bread, check out my recipe!)
Homebaked sourdough donuts

How to Store Sourdough Donuts

These baked sourdough donuts are best eaten fresh out of the oven (providing they have cooled down enough). They are good to eat for 12 hours, after which you’ll notice that the texture is neither light nor airy. You can store your baked donuts in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Though the best way to store these donuts, is to freeze without the glaze, till you’re ready to eat them again. When you wish to devour these delicious sourdough donuts, simply defrost in the microwave, and top with your favorite glaze.

Delicious Baked Donuts Feat Sourdough

If you love donuts, you’re going to adore these scrumptious sourdough baked donuts. Fragmented with your very own sourdough starter; create a delicious donut, that’ll delight your taste buds, and have you reaching for more in no time!

Sourdough Baked Donuts FAQs

Are Baked Donuts as Good as Fried Donuts?

Fried donuts are a common favorite amongst many donut lovers, due to their tasty, sugary crispiness, whilst baked donuts are softer and have a moist crumbly texture.

What are Amish Donuts Made of?

Amish donuts are made with basic ingredients, which include sugar, flour, milk, yeast and eggs.

What Makes an Old Fashioned Doughnut?

The primary ingredients in old-fashioned doughnuts include flour, sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and a leavener. These are then deep-fried, and provide a crunchy, crisper texture.

Which Flour is Best for Donuts?

All purpose flour is the best type of flour for donuts.

By Natasha Krajnc

Hi! My name is Natasha and I'm specialized in home sourdough bread baking and currently based in Slovakia - a very small country in Central Europe. My bread baking story began in 2011 when I decided to give up commercial yeast. I felt tired all the time (especially after eating bread and other foods made with yeast), I wasn’t motivated to do anything, had trouble concentrating throughout the day, my abdomen was bloated and I was like a trumpet on steroids – basically, I was quite a wreck. I was a big bread lover (and still am) and having to stop eating bread was quite hard at that time but I felt I was on a right way to give my body a chance to heal itself.

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