How to make
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the sugar and leave it to activate for 10 minutes in a warm place.
Strain the pumpkin puree from the excess water and mix it with the beaten egg yolk, vanilla, cinnamon and lemon and orange shavings (for the puree, instead of boiling the pumpkin, I roasted it, wrapped it in aluminum foil, so it doesn't soak up too much water and becomes more delicious that way. Then I pureed it and weighed 300 g).
Pour the activated yeast into the rest of the mixture and mix well.
Add the sifted flour little by little, by mixing well until a homogeneous mixture is obtained. It should look like the picture I attached - like a thick and stretchy mixture.
Cover it with a towel and leave it to rise in a warm place for 1 hour until it has tripled in volume.
Heat the oil on medium heat (a generous amount is good) and prepare a pot of water.
Scoop from the soft dough with a spoon with your left hand and dip your right hand into the water and take the mixture from the spoon, by making a hole in the middle with your thumb and immediately drop it into the heated oil. Don't worry if the first donuts don't turn out the right shape, with such a thin and sticky dough, that's normal. Wet your hand with each subsequent donut, being careful not to get water on the oil so it doesn't splatter. Don't put too many in the pan so they don't stick to each other. When they acquire a pleasant color on one side, turn them to the other side.
Remove the finished donuts and place them onto kitchen paper to absorb the excess fat and sprinkle them generously with powdered sugar.
Serve them with a cup of hot chocolate!
