These days it seems like life is a little harder than usual and we find ourselves needing to be intentional about finding things that will brighten our day. What brightens a day more than a donut? We can’t think of much else and thus Brite Donuts was born.

This labor of love was the dream of one of the owners of Metric, Darko Arandjelovic, and ultimately came to fruition because of Sieger Bayer, Annie Lottes, and Luke Sandstrom. Sieger, Annie, and Luke all got tired of sitting at home after being furloughed from their restaurant during the pandemic and just wanted to make food for folks.

A couple things that make our donuts special is that they are made from scratch and each donut is cut, fried, and dipped or iced by hand. Lastly, we proof our donuts for a minimum of 12 hours in the refrigerator which slows down the fermentation process and yields large fluffy donuts. We are thrilled to share our recipe with you, and we hope these donuts bring joy and a piece of delight to your quarantine.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 eggs
• 6 to 8 cups vegetable oil for frying

Instructions:

1. In a small pot, heat the milk, water, and butter until the butter has melted and the mixture is warm. Remove from heat and allow to cool to under 105° F
2. Mix the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and yeast (do not let the yeast and salt touch. The salt will kill the yeast!) in the bowl of a mixer. Add the warm milk mixture and mix to combine
3. Add the eggs, scraping the bowl well. Turn the mixer up to medium speed, and, using a dough hook, mix until the dough begins to pull away from the edges (It will still be quite sticky)
4. Transfer the finished dough to a well-oiled container and cover. Allow it to rise overnight (or at least 12 hours). This recipe is great for making the night before you want to eat them
5. To shape the donuts, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2-inch thick. Use a donut cutter to cut the donuts (go crazy with shapes. There are no rules when it comes to shape)
6. Heat the oil to about 350° F
7. Fry the donuts for 1 minute, turn and fry for 1 more minute
8. Remove finished donuts from the oil and place on a wire rack to cool
9. Top with a glaze or toss with cinnamon sugar