Donuts

Method

1. knead12 min
   a soft, rich, slightly sticky dough
   flour + yeast + warm milk + sugar + eggs + butter + salt worked until smooth and elastic — richer and softer than bread dough, the softness that fries into the doughnut-shop crumb; resist flouring it stiff
2. proof60 min
   first rise, covered, doubled
   the bulk rise — then rolled a half-inch thick and cut into rings (a glass and a bottle cap in an unequipped kitchen), holes kept, because donut holes are the cook's wages
3. proof30 min
   the cut rings, on parchment squares, until puffy
   the second proof that decides everything: a poked ring should spring back slowly and incompletely — underproofed donuts fry into dense rings with a pale waistband, and the parchment squares under each let them enter the oil without a deflating handoff
4. fry15 min
   350°F, three at a time, ~1 minute a side
   each ring lowered paper-and-all (the paper releases and comes out with tongs), flipped once at golden — the pale ring around the middle is the mark of a proper proof and honest oil; drained on a rack while the thermometer climbs back to 350°F between batches, which is the discipline that separates batch one from batch four
5. glaze8 min
   warm donuts through the glaze, set on a rack
   powdered sugar + milk + vanilla whisked thin, each WARM donut dipped and set to drip — warm is the trick: the glaze thins over the residual heat, wraps the whole surface, and dries to the crackled shell that shatters exactly the way the shop's does; eaten within hours, because fresh is the entire category