Potato Donuts

The original recipe for potato donuts is from the book that my friend brought me from her trip to Italy. Of course I converted it into a sourdough version. And oh my… these potato doughnuts came out so delicious! They are the most fluffy, light and they just melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

Sourdough starter 

• 10g sourdough starter
• 50g water
• 50g bread flour

Dough

• 250 g boiled and mashed potatoes
• 100 g milk
• 100g sourdough starter
• 500 g all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 large eggs
• 50 g sugar
• 75 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 g active dry yeast(optional)
• 10g salt
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Vanilla Donut Glaze

• 170g powdered sugar
• 30g melted butter 
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions 

Day 1

Starter 

• 10 pm add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover loosely, let it sit at a room temp 74-78F for about 8-10 hours until starter reaches its peak (at least triples in volume).
• Learn how to make starter from scratch here).

Day 2

Dough

• 7 am boil the potato, until soft, let cool off. Mash it before using in the dough.
• 8 am mix starter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, yeast, mashed potatoes(let it autolyse for 30minutes).
• During the autolyse period the flour becomes fully hydrated. This activates gluten development.

• 8.30 am mix the dough on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 minutes, or KitchenAid on speed 3 for 3-4 minutes until well incorporated.
• Add salt and mix for a couple more minutes. The dough should form a ball.
• Add soft butter, increase the speed, mix for 10-15 minutes until the dough comes up together. If its not coming up together, feel free to add a little more flour (20-40g).
• 9 am  cover and let it proof for 3- 4 hours at 76-80F/ 24-28C.
• During that time perform 2 stretches and folds.
• The dough should become slightly puffy.

• 12 pm transfer the dough to the fridge for cold fermentation for 8-10 hours.
• 10 pm remove the dough from the fridge.
• Roll the cold dough on the floured surface about 1/2 -1 inch thick.
• Cut the donuts with donut mold or just a regular glass.
• Transfer each donut to a parchment paper.
• Cover the doughnuts, let them proof overnight on the countertop. Temperature should be 72-73F. 
• Next morning they should increase in size and become puffy.

Note : if it’s hot in your kitchen, better to put doughnuts in the fridge overnight, and make them proof next morning for 2-3 hours at 78-82F until they will become puffy and light.

Day 3

Morning

• If the doughnuts were proofing at room temperature, then they should be ready to be deep fried.
• Preheat the oil for about 30 minutes, and fry the doughnuts for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden brown.
• Prepare the glaze, by mixing all ingredirnts until smooth.
• Then dip doughnuts into the glaze and enjoy.

Note : if doughnuts were slowly proofing in the fridge, bring them back to the room temperature, let them proof for 2-3 hours, then deep fry them. 

Potato Donuts (Spudnuts)

230kcal

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Prep 30 minutes mins

Cook 12 minutes mins

Total 3 hours hrs 42 minutes mins

These traditional potato donuts—often fondly called “Spudnuts”—are incredibly light, pillowy, and tender. By replacing a portion of the flour with standard potato flakes, the dough traps significantly more moisture during frying, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth interior that stays fresh far longer than ordinary yeast donuts.

Servings 12 Large Donuts

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1x2x3x

The Potato Yeast Dough Matrix

• ▢ 200 g Whole milk
• ▢ 40 g Unflavored instant potato flakes (Or mashed potato)
• ▢ 6 g Dry instant yeast
• ▢ 2 Large eggs (Room temperature)
• ▢ 450 g Bread flour
• ▢ 60 g Granulated sugar
• ▢ 7 g Salt
• ▢ 60 g Unsalted butter (Softened completely to room temperature)
• ▢ Vegetable or canola oil (Designated strictly for deep frying)

The Simple Vanilla Dip Glaze

• ▢ 2 cups Powdered sugar
• ▢ 4 tbsp Whole milk (Warm)
• ▢ 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Equipment

• ▢
  Stand Mixer (Fitted with a dough hook)
• ▢
  Deep Fryer or Heavy Dutch Oven (For frying)
• ▢
  Donut Cutter (Or two concentric round biscuit cutters)
• ▢
  Rolling Pin
• ▢
  Baking Sheets & Parchment Paper
• ▢
  Wire Cooling Rack & Slotted Spoon
• ▢
  Kitchen Scale

Method

Prevent Sleep ModePrevent Sleep Mode

Flake Hydration & High-Speed Kneading

1. 8:00 AM: In your stand mixer bowl, warm the 200g of whole milk until lukewarm. Stir in the 40g of instant potato flakes and let them sit for 3 minutes to hydrate into a thick paste.
2. Whisk the 6g of dry instant yeast, 60g of sugar, and 2 large eggs directly into the potato paste until completely smooth.
3. Dump all 450g of bread flour on top of the liquid base. Attach your dough hook and mix on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes until a shaggy, cohesive dough starts to form.
4. Sprinkle in the 7g of salt and continue mixing for 2 minutes until the dough builds enough strength to form a ball around the hook.
5. Increase your mixer speed to medium-high and begin adding the 60g of soft butter a tablespoon at a time. Knead intensely for 10 to 12 minutes. The dough will look incredibly sticky at first due to the potato starches, but it will soon pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl, becoming smooth and glossy.
6. Cover the bowl tightly and let the dough proof for 1.5 hours in a warm, draft-free spot at 78–84°F (26–29°C) until it completely doubles in volume.

Rolling, Stamping, and Shaped Proofing

1. 7. 9:45 AM: Gently turn your expanded dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
2. 8. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out evenly from the center until it reaches a thickness of exactly 1/2 inch.
3. 9. Dust a donut cutter with flour and stamp out your donuts as closely together as possible to minimize scraps. (Gather any remaining dough scraps gently, let them rest for 10 minutes, and roll them out again to stamp the remaining portions).
4. 10. Arrange the shaped donuts and donut holes neatly onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches of space between them. Cover loosely with a clean towel and let them proof a second time for 1 to 1.5 hours until they look beautifully puffy and fragile.

Precision Frying & Glaze Finishing

1. 11. Pour your frying vegetable oil into a deep fryer or heavy Dutch oven and heat it steadily until it registers exactly 360°F (182°C) on a kitchen thermometer.
2. 12. The Glaze: While the oil heats, whisk together the 2 cups of powdered sugar, 4 tablespoons of warm milk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a shallow bowl until a sleek, pourable glaze forms.
3. 13. Carefully lower 2 or 3 proofed donuts into the hot oil. Fry for exactly 1 minute until the bottom is a beautiful golden brown, flip them over gently using a slotted spoon or chopstick, and fry for another 1 minute on the opposite side.
4. 14. Lift the donuts out of the oil and drain them immediately on a wire rack set over paper towels.
5. 15. While the donuts are still warm, dip the top half of each pastry straight into the vanilla glaze, letting the excess drip down cleanly before serving.

Nutrition

Calories230kcalCarbohydrates57gProtein7gFat6gSaturated Fat3gPolyunsaturated Fat1gMonounsaturated Fat2gTrans Fat0.2gCholesterol42mgSodium65mgPotassium132mgFiber1gSugar6gVitamin A202IUVitamin C3mgCalcium40mgIron1mg

Notes

• The Chemistry of the Spudnut Crumb: Incorporating potato flakes completely transforms the interior structure of traditional fried dough. Because potato starches absorb and hold significantly more water than standard wheat flour, they keep the gluten network from drying out under high heat. This results in an incredibly moist, melt-in-your-mouth interior that resists staling much better than ordinary pastries.
• Why Temperature Control is Absolute: Frying donuts requires strict heat management. If your oil drops below 350°F (177°C), the enriched dough will absorb the grease like a sponge, leaving you with heavy, oily donuts. If the oil runs hotter than 375°F (190°C), the exterior sugars will scorch quickly, leaving you with a burnt crust and a raw, doughy center.
• Handling Sticky Potato Dough: Do not get discouraged if the dough looks unmanageably sticky during the first few minutes of adding the butter. Potato starches take slightly longer to fully bind with fats under mechanical friction. Resist the urge to dump in cups of extra flour; simply keep your mixer running on medium-high speed, and the dough will cleanly clear the sides of the bowl by the 10-minute mark.
• Using Real Leftover Mashed Potatoes: If you don’t have instant potato flakes on hand, you can substitute them by using real, leftover mashed potatoes. Simply replace the 40g of dry flakes and 200g of whole milk with 200g of fully cooled, plain mashed potatoes mixed with roughly 80g of milk. Ensure the mashed potatoes are completely smooth and free of any lumps, butter, garlic, or salt seasonings.

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