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Looking for the best jam doughnuts recipe? Try this recipe then check out our mini doughnuts, baked doughnuts and ring doughnuts, plus more doughnut recipes. Our homemade strawberry jam and blackberry jam also make delicious filling in this doughnut recipe.

Don’t be put off by the idea of making your own doughnuts. Once you’ve had a bite of your first homemade one, you’ll never look back. Light-as-a-feather dough, caramelised and sugared on the outside and loaded with jam in the middle.

How to make jam doughnuts

Which yeast is best to make doughnuts?

Fast-action dried yeast is a superstrong strain that’s been freeze-dried. When mixed with the warmed milk it rehydrates and activates, feeding on the flour, sugar and milk, and creating carbon dioxide to create light, pillowy doughnuts.

What is enriched dough?

Doughnuts are made from an enriched dough, which is a normal flour dough that has been enriched with milk, eggs, sugar and butter. These provide extra food for the yeast, creating more rise in the dough. The eggs increase elasticity so the structure is stronger and can better hold the carbon dioxide bubbles.

How do you make light doughnuts?

Bread flour contains the gluten protein, which when mixed and kneaded aligns into long links within the dough. This is what provides the structure to capture those gases that are released from the yeast. It’s very important to mix the dough really well in the beginning and not rush it. With the addition of the eggs, sugar, milk and butter you’ll find it is a much stickier dough, but this will become smooth and elastic the more you mix it – and your doughnuts will be all the lighter for it.

Don’t rush the second prove. After knocking back the dough and shaping it, a lot of the lightness will have been knocked out of it. Wait until the balls have doubled in size and look really puffy and aerated – this will ensure the lightest donuts once fried. Don’t worry if the dough balls stick slightly to the baking paper – just ease them off with a palette knife.

How do you add richness to doughnuts?

Adding the butter gradually will help prevent the dough from splitting and getting greasy. The butter will add richness to the dough once baked, as well as a cake-like texture to the crumb.

How do you pipe the jam into doughnuts?

When piping, push the nozzle right into the doughnut, past the middle point – when you squeeze the jam in, the pressure of it filling will push the nozzle back out. It also means you’ll get maximum jam into the donut and a taste of it in every bite.

How do you fry doughnuts?

Fry the doughnuts until they are a deep caramel colour. You may worry they look overcooked, but as they cool the steam on the inside of the donuts will escape and soften them so they’re soft and pillowy but with a deep flavour.

Jam doughnut recipe

You will need a stand mixer for this recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
  • 200ml whole milk, warmed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 400g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar, plus 3 tbsp for coating
  • 50g unsalted butter, softened
  • flavourless oil, for the bowl and deep-frying
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 400g seedless raspberry jam

Method

  • STEP 1

    Tip the yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment, pour in the milk and mix gently. Crack in the eggs and mix again. Tip in the flour, sugar and ½tsp of fine sea salt, and mix for 5 minutes until combined. With the mixer running, add a small piece of butter, adding more once it has been incorporated. Repeat until all of the butter is used. Tip the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.

  • STEP 2

    Lightly knock back the dough, then tip out onto a lightly floured worksurface and divide into 12 pieces. Roll into tight balls and put onto baking-paper-lined trays dusted with flour, with a few centimetres gap between each. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove again until doubled in size.

  • STEP 3

    Heat a deep, wide pan no more than a third full with oil to 180C or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. In a large bowl, mix the ground cinnamon and 3 tbsp of caster sugar, and prepare a tray lined with kitchen paper. Cook the doughnuts, in batches, in the oil for 1-2 minutes on each side, flipping when they are deep golden, then carefully remove with a slotted spoon and drain on the kitchen paper. After 1-2 minutes, carefully toss lightly in the cinnamon-sugar mix, then cool completely on a wire rack.

  • STEP 4

    Tip the jam into a bowl and beat well, then put into a piping bag with a nozzle. Make a small hole in the doughnut with a skewer, then push the nozzle into the middle of the doughnut and pipe a good amount of jam into each before serving. Kept in an airtight jar they will keep for one to two days.

Authors

Adam Bush Chef Portrait
Adam BushDeputy food editor
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