Dutch Oven Doughnuts
Fried dough in camp, cut with a can and dusted with powdered sugar.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 111
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 3 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 cup | |
| Milk | 3/4 cup | or 3 tbsp powdered milk plus 3/4 cup water |
| Eggs | 2 | |
| Baking soda | 1 tsp | |
| Cream of tartar | 2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Powdered ginger | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Nutmeg | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cooking oil | 1 tbsp | goes into the dough |
| Vegetable oil | 1 bottle | about 2 inches deep in the oven |
| Powdered sugar | 1/2 cup |
Method
- Build a bed of coals. You want steady heat under the oven, none on the lid.
- Mix everything except the bottle of oil and the powdered sugar into a smooth dough. Add flour a spoonful at a time if it sticks to your hands.
- Press or roll the dough out to half an inch on a clean lid or cutting board.
- Cut rings with a washed tomato sauce can, then punch the centers with a tomato paste can or a wide bottle cap.
- Pour oil into the dutch oven about two inches deep and heat it to 375-400F. A scrap of dough should sizzle and rise within a few seconds.
- Lower in three or four doughnuts at a time. They sink, then float. Flip once and pull them when both sides are golden.
- Drain on paper towels, dust with powdered sugar, and let the oil come back up to temperature before the next batch.
This is a car-camping recipe and it stays one. Two inches of hot oil is not something to carry or manage on a backpacking stove, and a dutch oven over coals gives you the one thing frying needs: a heavy pot that holds its temperature when cold dough hits it.
Cream of tartar plus baking soda is the leavening here, which is why there is no yeast and no rising time. The dough is mixed and cut and fried inside half an hour. Keep the oil hot between batches. Oil that drops below about 350F soaks in instead of searing, and you get heavy, greasy rings. Milk is the only cooler item worth mentioning, and powdered milk replaces it cleanly if you would rather not deal with that.
Packing
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and spices in one zip bag at home. In camp you add eggs, milk, and a spoon of oil to that bag or a bowl. Eggs ride in a hard case in the cooler; powdered milk skips the cooler entirely.
Variations
- Swap the powdered sugar for a cinnamon-sugar shake in a paper bag.
- Cut the dough into strips instead of rings if you have no cans. They fry faster and cook through more evenly.
- Fry the holes first as a test batch to check the oil temperature.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/dutch_oven_doughnuts-1248.asp