Posts Tagged ‘doughnut recipes’
Trying Out Donut Recipes
May 11, 2010 | 
Author We are going to be testing out various donut recipes that we sell on the website... we will be learning and tasting the recipes from the product we sell on our website... DonuteDVD
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So You Are Looking for Donut Recipes?
So you are wondering where to find donut recipes for you new business? View the video for a very good idea. You don't have to reinvent the wheel or invest in an expensive franchise to get "secret" donut recipes.....
Second Donut Taste Test
My business partners and I tried another experiment using liquid soybean oil from Sam's and the partially hydroginated soybean oil from Lil Orbits. It should be noted that the ingrediants for each were the same according to the nutritonal labels, but the amounts of each ingrediant were not stipulated. So, exactly how much citric acid is in there? Does it really matter? Who knows. There was one glaring difference between the oils, however. The Lil Orbits oil contained transfat while the Sam's oil did not. I guess you could say we were trying to make healthy donuts with the Sam's oil! Okay, maybe not. But, we were interested to see it there was a taste difference.
We started with the Sam's oil, and I made a small mistake in preparing the batter. Two weeks ago during our last taste test session we noted that if prepared exactly to the directions the batter set up quickly. This made it too thick to pour through the applicator. I noted the same consistency again and added a bit more water to the batter to thin it out. Apparently, I added too much as the batter became too stringy. Ugh! Frustrating! So much for finding a happy medium.
Instead of coming out in nice rings through the applicator the batter came out in clumps with strings attached. Someone commented that it looked we were deep frying tarantulas. Yum Yum! The cooking time was the same, but more bubbles were noted rising through the batter in the oil kind of like what you see when cooking pancakes. With the thinner batter more tiny pieces were left in the oil follwing the cooking process "dirtying" the oil. Note to self--easy on the water.
Surprisingly, I did notice a taste difference between the oils. We tried both sets of donuts together, some hot and some cold after sitting for an hour. Same results. The donuts made in Lil Orbits oil were slightly better with a pleasant cake-like taste. The donuts cooked in the Sam's oil were a bit heavier and greasier. Even though there was a noticable difference in was only slight, and in my opinion insignificant. When running a business it's a no-brainer that costs must be controlled. Getting oil from Sam's is less expensive than from Lil Orbits mostly because of shipping costs. The Lil Orbits does make a tastier donut, but it would also have to be a more expensive donut to turn a profit. I can say that the donuts we made last time with the pure vegetable oil were my least favorite with the ones being made with the Sam's oil being superior.
My business partners and I plan on videotaping the donut making process next week using our Lil Orbits test kit. Stay tuned!
Donut Recipes – Trying Out Samples
My business partners and I experimented with a donut making sample kit today, and as promised in a previous blog entry I want to tell you about it. Actually, you're going to get an individual perspective from each of us as we probably all had different reactions, concerns, and thoughts on the process. From Lil Orbits we received a package of dry mix, a container of partially hydrogenated soybean oil (meaning that it was firm and not a liquid), a dispenser, written instructions and an instructional DVD.
We broke up the tasks in making the donuts to make the process go faster. I measured out the mix and added the appropriate amount of water. No milk or eggs were required thank goodness. The first thing I noted was that the batter mixed up very quickly and smoothly. I've made several box cakes in my day from Betty C. and Duncan H., and I always seem to be stuck with lumps. I hate using mixers so I always use a whisk--old fashioned and time consuming I know but it's my way. Lumps are a pain to get out, but with this mix there were none! In less than a minute of whisking the batter was ready and smooth as pudding. And it smelled great, like cake batter! Yum!
That was the good part. The bad part that I learned later was that the longer the batter sat the thicker it got. This made it more difficult to squeeze through the dispenser and caused the batter to come out in very odd shapes. Sometimes we got a round donut, sometimes an octopus, sometimes a hush puppy, and sometimes an amoeba. Who knew making donuts for the first time would be so creative! Keep in mind that with Lil Orbits equipment the process is automated so that the donuts come out perfect every time. The dispenser was just for people like us interested in doing it by hand. The taste was the more important variable than looks at this point.
Once the batter was dropped into the fry daddy of Lil Orbit soybean oil it cooked rapidly. Per instructions 20 seconds was recommended for each side and that was about right. The oil was heated to between 350 and 400 degrees, so it didn't take long for the donuts to turn golden brown. They were moist without being greasy. We sprinkled a mix of cinnamon and sugar on them and set them aside to cool.
So let's talk about the taste. OMG! Incredible! Maybe it was the thrill of making them ourselves, or the fact that they were fresh and hot, or maybe it was because we hadn't eaten breakfast yet, but those things were good! They were technically bite sized, but so that I didn't look like too much of a pig I finished each one in two. That also let me note the texture on the inside which was different from a traditional fried or cake donut. The consistency was a combination between the two.
Next, just for funsies, we sampled some store bought products. The first were traditional fried donut holes and the second were powdered Dolly Madison versions out of a wrapper. There was no comparison between those and what we'd made. Ours were way, way, way, way better. Imagine the difference between a hot dog and a filet mignon--yeah it was like that. What I kept thinking was 'These things will sell like hotcakes!' Once a customer tastes these gems they won't willingly go back to Dolly. No, they will search us out for more.
Again, we decided to experiment. I cooked the next batch of donuts in Crisco All Natural Pure Vegetable Oil. I'm a food label reader, so I did some comparing. They had exactly the same number of calories per serving and surprisingly the Lil Orbits oil had slightly less saturated fat (the bad kind). Neither oil is artery friendly, but the Crisco was a bit worse. There was a flavor difference between the two batches. The Crisco donuts were greasier and not as tasty. When I read the Lil Orbits container I noted that the product was specially formulated for a "less greasy donut." Ahhhh...so that's why there was a difference. Hard to argue with the taste results though.
We're not done with our experimenting and will keep you savvy readers on the edge of your seats with our exploits. Or maybe we'll just keep dropping batter in the fry daddy looking for cool shapes. I'm going to try making a star fish next week. Stay tuned.
