To make doughnut twists at home, you mix a soft yeast dough, let it rise until doubled, roll it into thin ropes, twist each rope under light tension, rest them again, and deep-fry at 350°F until golden. The whole job takes about two hours, most of it waiting, and the only genuinely tricky part is the twist.
I make these roughly once a month, and the first few batches I ever made came out as loose ropes that unraveled in the oil. What changed everything was keeping the rope thin, sealing the ends properly, and not skipping the second rest.
Table of Contents
What You Need
The ingredient list is short. Every one of these items does a specific job, so there is nothing here you can safely leave out without changing the result.
Dough
- 2 1/4 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) whole milk, warmed to 100-110°F (38-43°C)
- 3 tablespoons (36 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (7 g) instant yeast, or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (35 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Bread flour works too and gives you a chewier, more bready crumb. All-purpose flour is more forgiving and easier to roll, which is why it is the default here. Avoid cake flour entirely; there is not enough protein to hold a twist together.
Cinnamon sugar coating
- 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon (2 g) ground cinnamon
Mix these in a shallow bowl wide enough to roll a twist around in. Plain sugar works too, and it is the better choice if you plan to glaze them instead.
Frying
- 4 to 6 cups (1 to 1.4 L) neutral oil, such as canola, vegetable, peanut, or refined sunflower oil
- 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) of oil in the pot, which means an 8-inch (20 cm) Dutch oven or a heavy pot with at least 4 inches (10 cm) of sidewall
Olive oil is a poor choice for this. It flavors the doughnut in a way most people do not expect, and its smoke point is lower. If you have no neutral oil, avocado oil is a fine stand-in.
Equipment
- Kitchen scale, if you have one. Weighing each piece to about 3.2 oz (90 g) is the single best way to get even cooking
- Rolling pin and parchment paper
- Slotted spoon, spider, or a pair of chopsticks
- Wire rack set over a baking sheet
- Cooking thermometer clipped to the pot, or a wooden spoon for the drop test
- Twelve small parchment squares if you want to shape and rest the twists on individual carriers
Step-by-Step
How to make doughnut twists comes down to two rises and one hot pot. Here is the sequence with the visual cues that tell you each stage actually worked.
Step 1: Make the Dough
Warm the milk first and check it with your wrist. It should feel distinctly warm, not hot. Anything above about 120°F (49°C) will kill the yeast, and cold milk slows the rise so much you may think the yeast is dead when it is fine.
Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together in a wide bowl. Pour in the warm milk and the egg and stir with a wooden spoon until no dry flour is left at the bottom. The mix will look shaggy and slightly sticky, which is normal at this point.
Now knead. Add the softened butter a tablespoon at a time, kneading between additions so it incorporates rather than sliding around. Keep kneading for 7 to 10 minutes by clock, longer than feels necessary. A mixer with a dough hook does this in about 5 minutes on low speed.
You know the gluten has developed when the dough turns smooth, feels elastic rather than sticky, and you can stretch a small piece thin enough to see light through it before it tears. That windowpane cue matters more than the timer. Under-kneaded dough is the reason twists blow open into pockets in the fryer.
Step 2: Let the Dough Rise
Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and leave it somewhere warm until it has roughly doubled in size. About 60 minutes is a reasonable expectation, but treat it as a range of 45 to 90 minutes rather than a setting on a timer.
Proofing speed tracks three things: how warm your kitchen is, whether you used instant or active dry yeast, and how fresh the yeast is. A kitchen at 68°F (20°C) can push this past 90 minutes. A kitchen above 78°F (26°C) can do it in 40. If your dough is doubled after 30 minutes and still climbing, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to slow things down.
The dough is ready when you press a floured finger about half an inch into the surface and the dent springs back only partway. A hole that stays open means it has already gone past its peak, and you will get twists with a sour flavor and a dense, tight crumb.
Step 3: Roll and Shape the Twists
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press out the big air bubble with the heel of your hand. Dividing the dough evenly is the other half of consistent results, and a scale makes this quick: 12 pieces at about 3.2 oz (90 g) each.
Roll each piece into a rope 14 to 20 inches (35 to 50 cm) long and about 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. Roll on a floured surface so the bottom does not stick. While you roll, keep pressing gently along the rope to push out trapped air. Air pockets expand in the hot oil and blow open, which is what creates the big holes in an otherwise good twist.
Do not go much thinner than 3/4 inch (2 cm). A rope that slim tears when you lift it, and you will lose it in the pot.
For the twist itself, lay the rope on the counter and hold one end in each hand. Roll the two ends in opposite directions, one away from you and one toward you, so the rope starts to coil. Keep light tension as you go. The rope should compress and shorten as it twists, not stretch and thin out.
Bring the two ends together, pinch them firmly, and tuck the pinched seam underneath so it sits against the body of the twist. That seam is what fails in the oil if you skip it. A second method works just as well: form the rope into a loose loop, coil the loop around itself twice, then pinch and tuck the ends underneath.
Set the finished twists on the floured tray or on individual parchment squares. They need a second rest of 20 to 30 minutes before frying, and this is the step that gets skipped most often. Skipping it gives you a tight twist that unravels the moment it hits the oil.
Fry them in the order you shaped them so every twist gets the same amount of extra rising time.
Step 4: Fry the Doughnut Twists
Heat the oil to 350°F (175°C) and no higher. Clip on the thermometer and wait for it to settle. Without a thermometer, drop a small scrap of dough in and count: it should sink, hold its shape, and start bubbling steadily within about 15 seconds. If it bursts apart instantly, the oil is too hot. If it sits there limply, it is too cool.
Lower two or three twists at a time, using the parchment square as a carrier if you have one. Crowding drops the oil temperature fast, and that is the number one reason doughnuts turn out greasy. Give them room to float and turn.
Fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once with the slotted spoon when the first side is deep golden. The surface should bubble evenly and steadily rather than sputtering violently. When the twist is golden on both sides, the center is done, and the crumb right at the core should no longer look wet or translucent.
Keep an eye on the temperature between batches and let the oil come back up before adding more. If it never recovers, lower your batch size for the rest of the fry.
Step 5: Drain and Coat
Lift the twists out and let them drip for a few seconds over the pot so excess oil falls back in. Rest them on a wire rack set over a baking sheet, never on paper towels alone, or the underside steams itself soggy.
Coat while they are still warm. Drop each twist into the cinnamon sugar, roll it around, and press the mixture into the crevices of the twist with your fingertips. Warm but not hot is the target: at around 100°F (38°C) the sugar sticks without melting into a glaze.
For a glazed finish instead, skip the sugar and dip the warm twists in a thin glaze of powdered sugar, milk, and a little vanilla, or a melted chocolate glaze. Let the glaze set on the rack before stacking.
Common Mistakes
Nearly every disappointing batch traces back to one of six things. Work down the list and you will usually find the culprit in under a minute.
Dense, tight twists. Usually the second rest was skipped or cut short, or the dough was left to double a second time before shaping. Under-relaxed gluten fights the twist and snaps it back into a rope in the oil. Give the shaped twists the full 20 to 30 minutes.
Dough with a sour or yeasty-bitter taste. Over-proofed. If the dough punched down was already past its peak, the fix is next time, not this batch: pull it at the halfway dent, not at double size.
Huge holes and open pockets. Trapped air from rolling. Roll more firmly as you go, and press out the big bubble before dividing the dough. Air expands roughly tenfold in a hot fryer.
Twists that unravel or break apart in the oil. The ends were not sealed, or the rope was rolled unevenly. Pinch harder, tuck the seam underneath, and keep tension even across the whole rope rather than twisting only the middle.
Greasy doughnuts. Oil below 350°F (175°C), too many twists in the pot at once, or not enough time draining on the rack. Pull the first twist out of the batch and eat it as a test; if it soaks oil, add the heat before continuing.
Sugar coating that looks patchy or has melted. The doughnuts were too hot when coated, or you rolled them in plain sugar that already had cinnamon clinging to the bowl from the last one. Let them sit two minutes longer and stir the sugar mixture between twists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make doughnut twists without yeast?
Yes, and the result is completely different rather than worse. A no-yeast version uses a flour-and-water dough with baking powder, rolled thinner, which fries up crisp and chewy like a Chinese mahua rather than soft and bready. No rising time is needed, so it comes together in about 30 minutes. Fry it slightly hotter, around 365-370°F (185-188°C), because there is no interior crumb to cook through. The counter-twist technique works the same way.
What temperature should the oil be for frying doughnut twists?
350°F (175°C) is the number to hold, not just reach. Below that, the doughnuts absorb oil and come out greasy; much above, roughly 375°F (190°C), the outsides brown before the middle cooks and the sugar coating scorches. Test without a thermometer by dropping a small dough scrap in: it should sink, hold together, and bubble steadily within 15 seconds. Reheat the oil fully between batches.
Why are my doughnut twists greasy?
Three things cause greasy twists, and they usually happen together. Oil that was below 350°F (175°C), a pot crowded with too many twists at once, and draining the twists on paper towels instead of a wire rack. Judge the first twist of each batch by eating it right away: if it soaks oil, raise the heat and cut the batch size. A slotted spoon plus a 60-second rest on the rack fixes the rest.
Can I bake doughnut twists instead of frying them?
You can, at 400°F (205°C) for 16 to 18 minutes, but know the trade-off up front. Baked twists come out drier, more bread-like, and they will not develop the crisp shell or the soft, chewy interior that makes a fried twist worth eating. Lightly brush them with melted butter before baking to soften the crust. If you want the fried texture, the no-yeast version fried at 365°F (185°C) is a better compromise than baking.
How should I store leftover doughnut twists?
Let them cool completely, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature with a slice of bread tucked in, which keeps them soft for a day or two. A paper towel in the container wicks off grease. They are best within 24 hours; after that the crust softens and the crumb turns chewy and dense. Skip the refrigerator, since the starch there retrogrades and hardens the crust within hours.
Can I freeze doughnut twists before frying?
Yes, and it is the best way to make this a weeknight project. After the second rest, lay the shaped twists on a parchment-lined tray, freeze them solid for about an hour, then move them to a freezer bag for up to two weeks. Fry from frozen at 335°F (168°C) for 5 to 6 minutes rather than 350°F, because a frozen twist needs slightly longer to cook through. Thaw baked twists in a single layer on a rack.
What to Do First
Start by weighing your flour and getting the milk to about 105°F (41°C). Those two small things are where most first-time doughnut twist batches go wrong, and both take under a minute to get right. Everything after that is just waiting and watching the oil.
