Makes 12

You'll need one or two doughnut baking pans. If you have a convection oven, turn the fan off when baking these.

Note: The dough needs to rise for 90 minutes. After being shaped, the doughnuts need to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe by pastry chef Gidon Ben Ezra of Sugar Daddy Bakery in Tel Aviv, Israel.

INGREDIENTS

For the doughnuts:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons plus a scant 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (from 1 1/2 packets)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus more for preparing pan

1 large egg, beaten

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

For the glaze:

7 ounces (3/4 cup) Nutella, or other chocolate- hazelnut spread

1/4 cup whipping cream

INSTRUCTIONS

For the doughnuts: Mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a mixer with a dough hook attached, on low speed.

Add the melted butter gradually and continue kneading in the mixer for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, egg and buttermilk and knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes. The dough will be sticky and soft. Use a rubber spatula to gather the dough into a ball in the middle of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 90 minutes.

Prepare a doughnut pan by spraying the wells with nonstick cooking spray or brushing with melted butter.

Punch down the dough and divide the dough into 12 equal balls, about the size of a golf ball, about 2 1/2 ounces each. Dust the ball with flour and poke a hole in it, working the dough into the shape of a doughnut. Place the dough into the well of the doughnut pan and repeat until the pan is full or you use all the dough. (If you only have one doughnut pan, store extra dough in the refrigerator until ready to bake.) Cover the pan with a clean dish towel and allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 13 minutes. The doughnuts should puff up but not take on much color.

Meanwhile, make the ganache: On a low heat, add the Nutella and whipping cream and stir with a rubber spatula until nicely incorporated and glossy.

Remove the doughnuts from the pan to a wire rack to cool. Glaze the top half with Nutella ganache; serve immediately.

Per doughnut: 320 calories, 7 g protein, 45 g carbohydrates, 13 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 18 g sugar

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Order Reprint