Jam doughnuts

[Karma]

Are jam doughnuts vegan? I rationalised that they were in a moment of highly irregular craving, only to discover my much longed for jam was actually custard! I guess that'll teach me...

[Cloudy]

My local Marks and Spencer does vegan ones, prepacked in bags of 4, you shouldn't have too much of a problem in London!

[Kiran]

Watch out for milk even though some may not contain eggs.

[Pob]

Red jam in them may have cochineal/carmine as a colouring, too.

[adam antichrist]

Yeah as long as you can ask the manufacturer whats in them you'll be ok, I have seen vegan jam doughnuts (yummmmmmmmm) but mostly I think doughnuts aren't vegan and I always ask first

[Roxy]

I haven't seen any vegan donuts here in Canada. I once ordered those vegan donut holes from Vegan Essentials. They were good!!!

[tipsy]

doughnuts scare me!

[Geoff]

Could we please change the title of this thread to something less tasty (like 'Dog's Vomit') as every time I scroll past it I start to salivate and Dr McDougall says I'm not allowed to eat them anymore.

[twinkle]

Mmm, delicious dog vomit - that's my absolute fave!

...er

Yeah, M&S doughnuts are goooood, but I don't buy them very often because they probably have a kajillion calories in them.

Or you can make your own, very easily if you have a breadmaker and/or deep fat fryer, because the dough is just a sweetened version of bread dough (and anyone who says you have to add powdered milk to breadmaker dough is lying! it's totally unnecessary.)

[aubergine]

I have to say I prefer a good ring doughnut over a jam one.

I know... I'm odd.

[Roxy]

Mmmmm donuts. Is Geoff salivating like Homer Simpson?

[Karma]

Have I just opened up a big can of vegan M&S worms??? Chicken and vegetable soup??? Urgh??? I only had a moment of dougnut craving!!! Why does everything have to be sooo complicated and difficult??? Actually, I'm even more astonished by the fact that M&S feel the need to tell us about every single item of fresh fruit and veg they sell, to reassure us that they are vegan, as if we needed some help working that one out!!!

[Mr Flibble]

well, fresh fruit can be coated in shellac, so I'm all for supermarkets saying what is and isn't vegan even if it does sometimes sound patronising. Co-op label some of their fresh fruit juice specifically as not vegan, as they sometimes use fruit that could have been coated in shellac.

Impressive list on the M&S website.

The best type of donuts are the type freshly out of the fryer, but I've yet to perfect a really good recipe. I've tried a few times now with recipes I've adapted and gotten pretty good results (shape, size, texture etc are fine), but nothing worth posting yet.

[Kam]

My local Marks and Spencer does vegan ones, prepacked in bags of 4, you shouldn't have too much of a problem in London!

So anyway, back to the Jam Doughnuts - are they vegan or not? Are they in a special packet or are they the ones you get in the bakery section - they never seem to have an ingredients list that I can see.

[Mr Flibble]

So anyway, back to the Jam Doughnuts - are they vegan or not?

well, i think the point was that M&S don't label any of their products vegan on the packaging, and they appear to be very confused on as to what a vegan is anyway. If you wish to trust the ingrediants list, which I personally generally do unless I hear otherwise about a product or company its made by that's upto you, but I don't think anyone currently can say whether anything made by M&S is vegan or not.

Certainly it is possible to produce vegan jam doughnuts, although ring doughnuts are far better

[xwitchymagicx]

*wants a vegan doughnut* I will find one! Or make one...though I've never even made any sort of doughnut before.

[elflick]

Does anyone know of any supermarkets who are selling vegan doghnuts at the moment? All supermarkets keep changing their recipes...

[Mr Flibble]

You can't of course beat making your own - hot fresh doughnuts are always the best

[maya]

Doughnuts are scary. I might as well just pour sugar in my mouth.

[Mr Flibble]

Doughnuts are scary. I might as well just pour sugar in my mouth.

how so? Doughnuts contain little more sugar than bread, and if deep fried properly shouldn't soak up much oil. If you put sugar on the outside then obviously the sugar content goes up, but you can frost them with other things.

[Soyalicius]

I hate to disappoint you but M & S have started putting milk in their doughnuts unfortunetly, as we used to eat a lot of them.

But if anyone does come accross vegan doughnuts pleeeeeaaaaaase let us know.

[Cloudy]

Yeah I noticed that a few weeks ago too

Oh well, there goes my participation in the office's "doughnut raffle"

[Jamie]

wasn't there vegan donuts at somerfield or something??

[tofufish]

So anyway, back to the Jam Doughnuts - are they vegan or not? Are they in a special packet or are they the ones you get in the bakery section - they never seem to have an ingredients list that I can see.

The bakery section usually doesn't list ingredients; so you have to ask at the bakery counter to see the ingredients list which they do have. It is a pain, but its better than buying and eating by-products. As a general rule, they have milk in them, and if not then they cannot claim to be dairy free.

[veganess]

We have a vegan doughnut shop here in Seattle called Mighty-O, but the doughnuts are cake-style. What I really miss are things like apple fritters and glazed, yeasty doughnuts.

[LadyBeans]

the cookbook- "sinfully vegan" by lois dieterly has some doughnut recipes in it. one is for jelly filled doughnuts. i'd post it, but it's a rather lengthy description

[Melanie]

*Really wants a doughnut now*

[Troutina]

Not a jam doughnut, but I made ring doughnuts yesterday:



I got the recipe from a Jamie Oliver book, just substituting the milk and butter. The original recipe uses a lot of spices, &lemon and orange zest. I didnt have any to hand, but would think they make it taste even better.

11oz milk [tepid]
1 tablespoon caster sugar
2 tablespoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon flour

Mix all these ingredients together, and leave in a warm place to get 'frothy'.
[This didn't happen to mine though?!]

500 grams plain flour
2 oz butter [softened&cubed]
2 oz caster sugar

Mix all these ingredients together, then add the milk&yeast mixture.
Mix with a spoon, then knead with your hands for about 5 minutes, until it is silky&smooth [add flour if too sticky, milk if too dry].
Leave in a bowl in a warm place, with a damp tea towel covering it.

When it's doubled in size, punch the air out of it&roll out to around half an inch thick. Cut into 5cm circles, leave on a greased baking tray, with the damp tea towel covering it, for around 45 minutes to rise again.

Make a reasonable sized hole in the middle.
[A doughnut cutter would probably be quite useful!]

Heat a pan with a LOT of oil [or use a deep fat fryer if you have one..!]
Pop a ball of spare dough into the oil to test it. Once it's swelled and turned golden brown, the oil is ready.
Try not to have the oil too hot, or it gets too crispy on the outside and not cooked properly in the middle, and add one doughnut at a time.

I halved the quantities, and made 9 regular sized doughnuts, but this recipe is supposed to make 25 mini doughnuts.

Once the doughnut is quite firm&golden brown, take it out the oil and put it into a bowl of caster sugar, coat each side and EAT!

[aubergine]

Not a jam doughnut, but I made ring doughnuts yesterday:

They look very good.

You should come along to the meetups. You're doughnuts are also welcome

[Troutina]

They look very good.

You should come along to the meetups. You're doughnuts are also welcome

Are you using me for my doughnuts!
Haha.
I do mean to attend meet ups, I just seem to have other things/ lack of money/ fear getting in the way...!

[absentmindedfan]

I do mean to attend meet ups, I just seem to have other things/ lack of money/ fear getting in the way...!

We are very shallow people Troutina. Bring doughnuts and you'll have fans for life!

[sprite1986]

*drool*

[Cherry]

Wow, troutina! They look fab!

I got a mini donut maker for Christmas (guess who from!? ) and had a trial go this morning. It's a bit like a sandwich toaster but with 7 donut shaped dents. They turned out ok - definitely edible, but nowhere near as good as yours, by the looks. (And by the fact that they're not fried )

That's weird your yeasty mixture didn't go frothy. Maybe the milk wasn't warm enough and the yeast didn't get going til you left in a warm place?

Mmmmm. You could easily do those sort without the hole and inject them with jam Mmmm.

*copies down recipe and packs away donut maker*

[Mr Flibble]

those look excellent troutina!

I've made ring doughnuts a few times and they've turned out very well asthetically, but the taste isn't as good as i remember (and seems to depend greatly on the type of oil used/what it was used for before). I used a bread machine for the dough and a deep fat fryer for cooking. The recipe I veganised from the classic bero book. I haven't tried it for a couple of years; i tend to only shallow fry things these days. Since then I've acquired a syringe (you can cheat with layered drinks) though, so should probably revisit jam doughnuts some time.

I think Cherry just needs to experiment more with hers, preferably within the next hour or so . It's a lot healthier than using oil and they only take 3 minutes to cook

[Troutina]

We used sunflower oil, and experimented with jam, but we used strawberry!
[I say "I" I mean "He" haha.]
It did not work.
It just tasted like a sort of weird bread and jam snack.
I would think that commercial doughnuts don't use jam jam but some sort of mega sugar syrup type stuff.

Thanks for all your comments

[Gorilla]

they sound and look fab Troutina

[Troutina]

Fanks!

[aubergine]

Are you using me for my doughnuts!
Haha.
I do mean to attend meet ups, I just seem to have other things/ lack of money/ fear getting in the way...!

That's fine, but please don't let fear get in the way. The meetups are really friendly and everyone is included in everything

[Troutina]

That's fine, but please don't let fear get in the way. The meetups are really friendly and everyone is included in everything

Oh I know, I just get nervous around new people!

[twinkle]

...
I would think that commercial doughnuts don't use jam jam but some sort of mega sugar syrup type stuff.

...

I think you could be right. I wonder if ice-cream topping would work any better?

I feel an experiment coming on.

[RedWellies]

Will you have experimented by the w/e, Twinkle?

Those doughnuts do look really nice, Troutina, but I'm afraid doughnuts are not doughnuts without jam in the middle! I would make an exception however if you brought yours to a meet up. What are you doing this w/e?

[twinkle]

now there's an idea!

I can get my mum to help me, because I'm visiting my folks before I come to London

[Troutina]

Will you have experimented by the w/e, Twinkle?

Those doughnuts do look really nice, Troutina, but I'm afraid doughnuts are not doughnuts without jam in the middle! I would make an exception however if you brought yours to a meet up. What are you doing this w/e?

Meh, I don't like doughnuts so the other half can experiment with the jam!
I reckon I would like mega chocolatey ones though- chocolate makes all foods amazing.
Apart from sweetcorn.
Nothing can save sweetcorn.
This weekend?
Nothing much really- getting a new double bed delivered, so most probably will be spending the entire weekend in it!

[aubergine]

...but I'm afraid doughnuts are not doughnuts without jam in the middle!

Whilst I love a good jam doughnut, a ring doughnut and a large black coffee is bliss. Oh yes

Someone needs to open a Vegan coffee shop and patisserie.

[RedWellies]

Cumin would love to.

[sprite1986]

Imagine how amazing it would be if vegan coffee shop chain opened up!

I don't really go in them anyhow, but I think i'd make an exception if that ever happened.

I really really want to go to Pogo Cafe, I still haven't been!

[Gorilla]

i used to love the freshly cooked doughnuts they sell on Brighton Pier. a vegan hot doughnut stand (that sells vegan ice creams too!) would be just what Brighton needs

[aubergine]

Cumin would love to.

If I come into some money then he's got a job

[Haniska]

I want a glazed donut

[yab yum]

there's always cafe kino in bristol. http://www.cafe-kino.com/

it'd be very cool if this were a chain of cafes, though....