225g strong bread flour
30g caster sugar
8g dried yeast
50ml full fat milk
85g softened butter
2 whole eggs
2 large punnets of strawberries, plus sugar to taste
Using a mixer with a paddle, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffly or by hand, with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs and mix for another 2 minutes.
Add the milk, incorporate, then add the flour and yeast and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Continue to work the mixture for another 3 minutes. Cover the bowl with a clean damp tea-towel and leave in a warm place to prove until it has doubled in size.
Transfer the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface and roll it out to about 1.5cm thick. Using approximately a 7cm round cutter cut out circles from the dough, then using a 2cm round cutter cut the hole out of the center. The mixture that is left over can then be reshaped into another doughnut.
Leave the dough to prove again until it has doubled in size, the deep-fry at 170 degree until golden brown, you need to turn them over half-way through the cooking. Remove from oil then toss them in a bowl of caster sugar until well coated. They are ready to serve.
We serve them warm, with a strawberry compote and clotted cream ice cream. To make the compote cut the strawberries in half removing the green stalk, then gently heat in a saucepan with a sprinkling of sugar to taste, until sugar is dissolved.
Advanced preparation
The batter can be made the day before and kept in the fridge in an airtight container, but the donuts are best made just before you want to eat them.