Baked Doughnuts Without Butter or Milk, Genuinely Soft

Name: Baked Doughnuts Without Butter or Milk, Genuinely Soft
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 14
Cuisine: Homemade
Ingredients: 300 g all-purpose flour; 250 g strong white bread flour; 250 ml warm plant milk (or regular milk); 100 g sugar; 80 ml sunflower oil; 80 g potato starch; 12 g fresh yeast; 2 medium eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon; 1 pinch of salt; Granulated or icing sugar, to finish

Soft, light baked doughnuts made without butter or milk: an easy homemade breakfast bake with no frying and no greasy kitchen smell.

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 15 min
Total: 45 min
Servings: 14 servings
Calories: 228 kcal

Category: Desserts
Cuisine: Homemade

Looking for a doughnut recipe you can bake for breakfast, with no deep-frying and no lingering fried smell taking over the kitchen?

Then this version might genuinely win you over. I will walk you through how to make baked doughnuts that are soft, light and easy to put together at home, perfect when you want something tender but more practical than classic fried doughnuts.

That is really the beauty of this recipe: you do not fry anything, you do not boil potatoes, and you use neither butter nor cow’s milk. And yet the result stays soft, fragrant and properly moreish.

Compared with classic fried ring doughnuts, these have at least three advantages: they are lighter, they stay soft even the next day, and they come together with fewer steps and fewer dishes to wash.

If you are also after a dairy-free bake, you are in the right place. Use an unsweetened plant milk and you will still get a well-risen dough that is a pleasure to eat.

One more little trick that keeps this recipe simple is using potato starch instead of boiled potatoes. It cuts down the work and still gives you a soft, well-structured crumb.

To get a neat ring shape you can use a doughnut tray, but if you do not have one you can shape them by hand and bake them on parchment.

Ready to go?

Let’s get started with these baked doughnuts without butter or milk.

Donut baking pan

Helps achieve a uniform shape and even baking without having to hand-shape each piece.

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Digital kitchen scale

In leavened recipes and baked goods, it lets you accurately weigh flour, liquids, and yeast.

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Fine citrus grater

Perfect for taking just the lemon zest and flavoring the dish without the bitter pith.

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Steps

Warm the milk until it is just lukewarm, then pour it into a large bowl with the crumbled yeast and a spoonful of sugar taken from the total.
Stir with a fork until the yeast dissolves, then add the eggs, sunflower oil, vanilla, lemon zest, the remaining sugar, the potato starch and the salt.
Work in the all-purpose and bread flour a little at a time, mixing first with the fork and then with your hands once the dough starts to firm up.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, until it is soft, elastic and only slightly sticky.
Put the dough in a clean bowl, cover it with a cloth or cling film and let it rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Roll the dough out to about 1.5 cm thick and cut out the doughnuts with a large cutter, using a small one for the central hole.
Arrange the doughnuts on a baking tray lined with parchment, cover them and let them rise for another 30-40 minutes, until visibly puffed.
Bake in a preheated conventional oven at 180°C (350°F) for about 15 minutes, keeping them just golden and still soft.
As soon as they come out, brush them with a little water or plant milk, then roll them in granulated sugar, or let them cool and dust with icing sugar.

The two rising times (about 1 hour 30 minutes for the first, 30-40 minutes for the second) are hands-off: use that time to get on with something else.

If you will not eat all the doughnuts within a day, freeze them once baked and unsugared. They thaw in a few minutes at room temperature or a few seconds in the microwave.

You can swap the potato starch for the same weight of cornstarch: the result stays just as soft and the method is unchanged.

For extra fragrance, add a few drops of orange or extra vanilla extract alongside the lemon zest.

Calories: 228 kcal
Carbohydrates: 31.0 g
Sugars: 8.0 g
Protein: 5.0 g
Fat: 8.0 g
Saturated fat: 1.5 g
Fiber: 1.2 g
Sodium: 120 mg

Baked Doughnuts Without Butter or Milk, Genuinely Soft