Doughnuts

3/4 cup buttermilk (or milk)
2 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons very soft butter
1 egg
1/2 cup active leaven
2.5-3 cups integral spelt flour
1 teaspoon salt

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1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix buttermilk, honey, butter, egg and leaven in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook. Add 2 cups of flour and the salt, then mix to combine. Rest 5 minutes to allow flour to absorb liquids, then continue kneading with the hook, adding only enough flour to create a smooth, soft dough that is no longer sticky. 

Ferment around 70℉ for 7 hours, or 65℉ for longer (you may go about 10 if your ingredients did not start out warm). 

Sprinkle baking soda over dough. Knead in, and allow to rest a few minutes to neutralize acids.

Roll dough out to about 3/4" thick on lightly floured, nonporous surface. Cut with a large round cutter, then cut the center out with a small cutter.

Proof in the oven with the light on, about 1 hour. They'll be soft and pillowy. I placed each one on a square of dusted (with arrowroot flour) parchment, so they could be lifted individually and flipped into the oil.

Fry in hot oil (tallow or ghee are best; I had some coconut oil Azure sent by accident that was not virgin).

GLAZE: 

In a cereal bowl, put about 1 cup homemade powdered sugar (organic raw sugar whizzed in Vitamix with some arrowroot powder), 1 tablespoon buttermilk* and a wee bit of vanilla extract. 

(*I’ve done it with uncultured raw milk and definitively, buttermilk is superior!)

As doughnuts begin to cool, dip the top into the glaze, flip over and allow to drizzle down sides. I like doing the doughnuts with regular glaze, and add some cocoa powder to the glaze for the holes.

MAPLE GLAZE:

2 tablespoons butter, melted and lightly browned
1/4 cup dark maple syrup (BJ's wholesale sells the best one I've had)
1 teaspoon maple flavor
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1 pinch salt

Whisk syrup, maple flavor and vanilla into melted browned butter, scrape the bottom of the pan to release all browning. Pour into powdered sugar, add salt and whisk to combine. Allow to cool and thicken slightly. Glaze when doughnuts are no longer warm, as butter glaze will only melt off if the doughnut is warm.