Olive Oil Doughnuts With Orange-Ginger Sugar

Pizza-dough doughnuts are one of my favorite ways to impress guests while putting forth almost no effort (and even less cash). While I usually just dunk freshly fried rings of pizza dough in cinnamon-sugar and serve, this time I decided to step it up a bit, frying the dough rings in fruity olive oil instead of vegetable or canola and dredging them in a sweet/tart/spicy blend of sugar, fresh orange zest, and ginger.

Ingredients (prices may vary)

Pizza dough

2 1/2 cups flour pantry

1 cup warm water pantry

1 packet dry active yeast $1.50

2 tablespoons sugar pantry

2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for the bowl pantry

1 teaspoon salt pantry

Total cost of ingredients: $1.50

Doughnuts

1 cup sugar pantry

zest of 1 orange, plus a little extra for garnish $1 for 2 oranges

1 1-inch piece ginger, grated $0.50

extra-virgin olive oil pantry

Total cost of ingredients: $3

Directions

For pizza dough: Combine water, yeast, and sugar and set aside in a warm place until it begins to foam (4-5 minutes). Meanwhile in a bowl, mixer with a paddle, or a food processor, combine salt and flour. Slowly stream in the yeast mixture and add the olive oil. If using a mixer or food processor, turn on and allow ingredients to combine until they form a ball of dough. If you’re using a mixer, now is the time to switch to the dough hook. Knead (either by turning on your machine or by hand) for 2-3 minutes. Set aside in an oiled bowl covered with a damp dish towel in a warm place (like an oven that has been turned on and then turned off and allowed to cool a bit but is still warm) for 30 minutes. After dough has doubled in size, punch down and allow to rise for another 30 minutes (20 if you’re impatient).

For doughnuts: In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, orange zest, and grated ginger until well incorporated.

Divide dough into eight balls. Roll each ball into a 6-inch snake, and connect the two ends to form a circle.

Pour about 1 inch of oil into a medium pot or deep frying pan. Heat over medium-high heat, until hot (test by dropping a tiny splash of water into the middle of the oil—it’s ready when it sizzles).

Working in batches, fry the doughnuts until they are golden-brown on one side. Flip, using a metal slotted spoon or tongs, and cook on the other side until golden-brown.

Transfer the doughnuts immediately from the hot oil into the sugar-orange-ginger mixture and coat well. Repeat until all doughnuts are cooked and coated.

To serve, top each doughnut with a little extra sugar-orange-ginger mixture and a pinch of orange zest.

Makes eight doughnuts.

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