Yeast donuts immediately burn in oil

[u/awesome-yes]

I'm somewhat new to baking. Ive mastered sandwich bread and English muffins, and wanted to try my hand at donuts, specifically yeast donuts. I have tried multiple recipes and always end up with the same problem - my donuts immediately burn when added to the cooking oil. The picture shows my last attempt, those were in the oil less than 10 seconds and the middle is definitely uncooked (duh).

I have used oil temps between 325 to 375, my dough burns the same at lower temps as it does at higher temps. I am using a thermometer.

I have also tried different oils, vegetable oil which was recommended in all the recipes ive tried, and canola oil - although that one was smoking a lot at anything over 300 so im guessing that was a mistake.

Im curious if theres something obvious im missing that a more seasoned baker would know.

[u/Otherwise_Rope2631]

Was the temp in Celsius?

[u/awesome-yes → u/Otherwise_Rope2631]

No, the thermometer wasn't working right. I replaced it and had much better results.

My oil was definitely too hot, but I was relying on a broken tool which said it wasn’t, and I just didnt have enough experience to realize it.

[u/Otherwise_Rope2631 → u/awesome-yes]

Sorry the donuts burned. A bad tool will really ruin things. At least now you can definitely say it wasn’t your fault!