Baked Sourdough Donuts

These easy baked sourdough donuts are a lovely way to use sourdough starter in something a little different! They have the texture of a traditional donut, without the greasy, fried exterior. Sourdough starter creates a depth of flavor not found in yeasted donuts.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Recipes

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Fermentation Time 12

Total Time 13

Servings Donuts

Calories 312kcal

Author Kate Freebairn

Equipment

Stand Mixer
2 6 Hole Donut Tins

Ingredients

100 g Sourdough Starter
500 g Bread Flour
200 g Whole Milk (warm)
2 Eggs (room temp)
50 g Butter (softened)
60 g Granulated Sugar
10 g Salt

For Glaze

250 g Powdered Sugar Icing Sugar
60 g Milk Whole
pinch Salt

Instructions

This recipe has been developed in a stand mixer - you can knead by hand if you prefer.
To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the milk, sugar, sourdough starter, flour, eggs, soft butter and salt. Use the dough hook on your stand mixer to knead the dough. It should be stretchy and elastic and pull away from the sides of the bowl. This takes around 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the stand mixer you are using.
Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to bulk ferment until the dough doubles. Depending on the temperature of your home this could take up to 12 hours or so. It is an enriched dough, so it's pretty slow to rise.
Once the dough has doubled you need to shape the donuts. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle. You want the dough to be around ¾-inch thick.
Use a donut cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out approximately 12 donuts. If you don't have a cutter, you can cut the dough into pieces (I recommend around 80 grams) and shape them into balls. These still work perfectly well.
Place the shaped donuts onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with a cloth and allow them to proof until they are lovely and puffy. You can use a donut tray here if you have one.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
Bake the donuts in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. They will be golden when done (you can take them out a little earlier if you want a softer donut or leave them until their golden for a more chewy texture).
Once you've removed the sourdough baked donuts out of the oven, brush them with melted butter to ensure they stay lovely and soft.
For the glaze, use tongs to dip one side of the donut into the glaze and then allow them to cool on a wire rack. The excess glaze will drip off.
For cinnamon sugar donuts, dip one side of the donut into melted butter and then into a bowl of cinnamon sugar.

Notes

Sourdough Donut Toppings: The glaze listed in this recipe is very runny and is made this way so you can dip the donuts into it. If you want it to be a thicker "icing", just reduce the liquid a little.

Other Toppings:

Milk Sugar Glaze - add 250g of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt and 60g of milk and whisk until it's runny.
Strawberry Glaze - add 250g of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, 60g of milk and a tablespoon of strawberry jam (add a little pink coloring if you want it really pink).
Chocolate Glaze - add 250g of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, 60g of milk and a tablespoon of cocoa powder.
Cinnamon Sugar - Melt 100g of butter in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, add 150g of granulated sugar and 2 tsp of cinnamon and mix until well combined. Dunk the donuts into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon sugar.

Freezing: They are suitable for freezing. I suggest freezing them unfrosted. Thaw and then warm slightly in the oven before dipping into the glaze or melted butter and cinnamon sugar.

Nutrition