Doughnuts too dense?

[swallowsbreath]

I followed this recipe by NYT Cooking and my doughnuts came out pretty dense. I'm not sure if it's because I did a sloppy job of halving the recipe or because they were underproofed (I was on a time constraint), but I could really use some advice. This is only the fourth yeasted recipe I've ever made, so I'm still a bit of a tyro.

 

[retired baker]

yeh, underproofed...you can't dictate proof time to yeast raised products.