Easy Vegan Air Fryer Doughnuts

• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 4 hours

Ingredients

130ml of dairy-free milk

7g of active dry yeast

30g + 1 teaspoon of caster sugar

200g of plain flour

20ml of sunflower oil

40g of dairy-free butter

5 tablespoons of dairy-free butter

80g of caster sugar

1 jar of berry jam (I chose raspberry jam)

Directions

Method (doughnuts)

Pour the dairy-free in to a saucepan, place on the hob and heat on low until warm. You don’t want the milk to be too hot or it can kill the yeast, it just needs to be warm. Sprinkle in the yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar, stir to combine then cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 5-10 minutes to activate. You’ll know the yeast is activated when it’s frothy.

In a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour and sugar. Stir to combine.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on the hob over low until fully melted.

Once the yeast mixture has frothed up, pour into the dry ingredients along with the oil and melted butter.

If you’re using a stand mixer, place the bowl on the mixer and attach a dough hook. Begin to knead the dough on a low speed until it starts to come together. You can also knead by hand on a floured work surface, but this will take longer. The dough should start to become smooth and elastic after 3-5 minutes. Once it looks like it’s coming together, turn out on a clean worktop dusting with flour and knead until smooth and elastic. It should feel soft and pillowy. Do not over knead!

Place the dough into the greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. Place the bowl into a warm area for 1 – 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. After 30 minutes, check on the dough. You should start to see the dough rising. If it isn’t, place the bowl into a warmer area. See notes for more proving tips*.

Once risen and doubled in size, turn out the dough onto a floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle, around 1 inch thick. This dough doesn’t make too make doughnuts so try not to roll it too thin. If you roll them too thin, you risk them not puffing up in the oven. Use a cookie cutter (around 1 inch) to cut as many doughnuts out from the dough, and place onto a lined baking tray. Gather up the excess dough and repeat.

Cover the doughnuts with a tea towel and allow to rest in a warm area for 1 – 2 hours or until risen and puffy again.

Air fry the doughnuts

Once the doughnuts have risen, preheat the air fryer to 180ºC and grease the inside of the air fryer with a little sunflower oil. Place a few doughnuts into the basket at a time, making sure they have room to puff up and bake.

Bake the doughnuts in the air fryer for around 8 – 10 minutes or until they are golden in colour. You can check & flip the doughnuts half way through to make sure they are evenly baked and golden. Repeat until all doughnuts are baked.

Remove from the air fryer and repeat for the rest of the doughnuts.

Coating the doughnuts

In a saucepan, melt the dairy-free butter. Dip or brush butter all over the warm, freshly baked doughnuts then roll them in caster sugar. Place the doughnuts on some kitchen paper, and repeat until all the doughnuts are covered.

Fill a piping bag with raspberry jam and snip off the tip. Poke a hole in the side of the doughnuts and pipe in a generous amount of jam.

Serve and enjoy!