A basic doughnut batter is pretty simple stuff: Flour, sugar, salt, yeast or baking powder, plus milk, butter, and eggs. We have dozens and dozens of doughnut recipes to choose from.

Yeast Doughnuts

Add yeast to the batter, and you're making yeast doughnuts — also called ″raised" doughnuts because the yeasty dough needs time to rise.

To make yeast doughnuts, you'll dissolve the yeast in warm water, and let the mixture stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy. Then stir the foamy yeast into the flour mixture, adding the remaining ingredients as the recipe describes.

When the dough is firm enough, turn it out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 to 5 minutes. Place into an oiled bowl, cover, and, allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Favorite yeast doughnut recipes to try:

Cake Doughnuts

Add baking powder instead of yeast, and you're making cake doughnuts. With cake doughnuts, the dough goes straight from kneading and shaping into the hot oil (or oven) — no rising time required. Not surprisingly, they have a denser, cake-ier texture.