Baked lemon ricotta doughnuts - all the deliciousness of doughnuts without frying

I love doughnuts – as do many of you, I believe – but the idea of frying them... Not so much. I’m not a fried food kind of cook – I love eating it, not making it. That is why I was quite taken by this recipe: the doughnuts are baked instead of fried and they turned out beautiful, very tender, absolutely delicious.
The filling is oh, so good – I ate several spoonfuls of it before actually assembling the doughnuts. And I’m not ashamed of that. :D

Baked lemon ricotta doughnuts
slightly adapted from the always beautiful and delicious Australian Gourmet Traveller

Dough:
5 1/3 cups (746g) all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
½ cup + 3 ½ tablespoons (142g) superfine sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons (7g /1 sachet) dried yeast
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1 cup (240ml) lukewarm whole milk, plus extra for brushing
1/3 cup (80ml) buttermilk*
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Lemon ricotta filling:
250g ricotta
¼ cup (50g) superfine sugar
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
juice of 1 lemon
1 large egg

To serve:
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup (200g) superfine sugar
finely grated zest of 1½ lemons

Start by making the dough: combine flour, sugar, yeast and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix to combine. Whisk together milk, buttermilk, eggs and the melted butter and, with motor running, add to flour mixture, then mix on medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic (4-5 minutes). Shape into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (1-1½ hours).
Meanwhile, for lemon ricotta filling, process ingredients in a food processor until smooth (1-2 minutes), transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (otherwise it will be too fluid).
Knock back dough, turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 5mm thick. Cut 48 rounds with a 7.5cm-diameter cutter (reroll scraps if necessary**). Place a heaped teaspoon of lemon ricotta filling in centre of 24 rounds. Brush edges with milk, cover with the remaining rounds, press to seal edges well. Trim with a 7cm-diameter cutter. Transfer to a large baking sheet, lined with baking paper, cover and stand in a warm place until risen (1-1½ hours), then bake until lightly golden (10-12 minutes).

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.
Meanwhile, melt the butter and set aside. Combine sugar and lemon zest in a bowl. Dip hot doughnuts immediately in the melted butter, toss in lemon sugar and serve hot.

* homemade buttermilk: place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk. Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

** I tried rerolling scraps, but dough became tough, it did not work; so I braided the scraps into several little breads

Makes about 24 doughnuts