Dough everywhere

This weekend was a busy baking weekend for me. I love baking, and had found some new ideas to try out. Friends and family joke that Jaysons on the grill, I'm baking, and were both trying at the cooking thing.
Jayson has been working out of town, and was home for the weekend. The kids had planned on selling doughnuts Monday morning, hoping to get all the campers and visitors in town for the holiday weekend.
I had found a recipe for "overnight" cinnamon rolls, and though this would be great. I would make them Sunday night, and It would make Monday go a little easier...hmmm...These suckers were awful! I thought something was up with the amount of liquid used, but I just stuck to the recipe. The dough was so tough, my Kitchen Aide was even having a hard time. I finished them anyways...maybe the final product was going to turn out.
I have a wonderful recipe for spudnuts/ cinnamon rolls, and I think I will just stick to that one.
I did however have HUGE success with the Buttermilk Rolls! The only thing that sucked about these is that the time consumption is a little more than I would like. You start with yeast, flour and buttermilk - let that sit for 2 HOURS, add more, and let that sit for another hour. Plus, with rolls you have to cut and shape. So the whole process took over 4 hours - but they were SOOO GOOD! Totally worth the wait. As many of you know, it rained Sunday...and rained...and got cold...and rained....and I would care because - THIS SUCKS FOR DOUGH!!
We turned the furnace off at our house like 2 months ago, and I wasn't about to fire it up again, but I should have. It would have made the day easier.
Sunday night, I went to bed about 2am, and couldn't sleep thinking about my morning of doughnuts. When the alarm went off at 5:30, I wanted to throw it across the room. A nice hot shower started the day for me. I got my milk scalding, and yeast rising and jumped in the shower. I was in full baking mode by 6am.
The recipe I use calls for 12C. flour - and i was still super sticky at 13 (almost 14). So, I decided to just work what I got. This dough was out of control. Talk about "active yeast." I couldn't roll out doughnuts quick enough... but we managed, and they sold. We made 6 doz. doughnuts, and 3doz cinnamon rolls. Cleaned up and put away by eleven!
The pictures do no justice, but I will give you the secret ingredients. Just a little FYI - there is a reason that these are easier with 2 people! 1 Fry's, the other cuts and dips...I promise! This is a full batch. If you have never made doughnuts before, or only want to TRY them - ONLY do 1/4 of this batch! A full batch makes a LARGE 5-6 doz. doughnuts


* I call them doughnuts, but they are in fact technically SPUDNUTS. Why you ask, because they are made with mashed potatoes!*

Spudnuts

Dissolve:
7 T yeast
1 1/2 C warm water
1 tsp. sugar


Mix:
3/4 C heaping sugar
1 stick + 2 T softened Butter
2 C Mashed Potatoes

Add:
4 C Scalded milk
4 eggs (room temp)
2 tsp salt

DO NOT add yeast until milk has been cooled, or it will kill your yeast

Add:
Yeast
6 C. flour
Use dough hook with Kitchen Aid and mix, slowly add 6 more cups flour (12 total)
Knead with dough hook for 7 minutes, Roll onto floured surface.

Frying: So I will admit here, I am not sure what temp you fry for! I think the norm is 375. All I know is that we heat the oil, test a doughnut hole, and keep the temp at medium. You may need to add more oil, or even change it during frying. You should only fry for about 1 min per side, otherwise the doughnuts are full of oil and are just plain nasty! If you fry to quick, the still have dough in the center...again, good luck!
We take them out of the oil, put on a paper towel for about 1 min, then dip in glaze on let rest on a cooling rack with wax paper underneath (quicker clean-up).

Glaze:
3-4 lbs. powdered sugar
1 cube melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. milk

Kaehla is such a good fryer. If you can see - were just frying them in an old pan - nothin fancy here!

Our favorite is the doughnut holes! We save those for loved ones...LOL!

I know - you can't see all the ooey gooey mess all over my hands, but the flour on my shirt is awesome. I'm not sure what the point of my apron was!

For Cinnamon Rolls:
Follow the above recipe, just roll out into a 1" thick piece instead of frying. I usually do this in three sections.
Roll this goodness all over top of the dough
Whisk together:
1 stick melted butter
1 Tbs. Cinnamon
1/3 C Brown sugar
1 Tbs. flour
Roll into cinnamon rolls, cut into even sizes. Line into baking pan, let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.
Pour glaze over the top while still hot!

If you decided to give these a whirl, good luck and HAVE FUN!