Donuts

Adjust

Combine milk and water. Add yeast and wait 5 minutes. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, except flour. Measure out flour in large mixing bowl, then pour in wet mixture. Mix everything together with a spoon (just a little), then use a stand mixer with the dough attachment on medium speed until everything comes together, scraping down the sides as needed (3-5 minutes). Form the dough into a ball and place in greased bowl to rise for 2 hours at room temperature (70-75 degrees). If dough is too sticky to form a ball, dust with a little flour. After the dough has at least doubled in size, roll the dough out to about 3/8" thickness. Fry at 330-350 degrees, for 1-2 minutes per side, preferably in shortening. Donut should be just golden, not golden brown. Be careful to not let the oil smoke (360 degrees for shortening and 400 degrees for vegetable oil).

Adjust the thickness depending on the style of donut. For a thin donut, like Krispy Kreme, roll dough out to 1/4". For thick donuts, like long johns or Bismarcks, roll out to as much as a 1/2". Otherwise, rolling the dough out to 3/8" strikes a nice balance.