Sufganiyot (Israeli Jelly Doughnuts)
There's nothing better than a perfectly fried pillow of dough filled with jelly and dusted with powdered sugar. Yes, this shiksa made this traditional Hanukkah treat and it turned out delicious.
The jelly doughnut has many names. In Germany it's called a Berlinerkrapfen, in Austria: krapfen, in France: boule de Berlin, Poland calls them paczka and in Yiddish-ponchik, pontshke. No matter what name you give to this fried treat, it's loved by all.
We can trace the doughnut back to Germany and in 1485, they appeared in a cookbook. The recipe for the doughnut was translated into many languages. The modern doughnut is filled with a sweet jam or jelly. The original filled doughnut was primarily packed with meat, fish, mushrooms or cheese. Sugar was very expensive and rare in Germany, so savory dishes were much more practical.
Leite's Culinaria writes, "In 2009, about eighteen million sufganiyot were consumed in the weeks before and during the holiday, or about three doughnuts per Israeli, with the Israeli Defense Force alone purchasing around a half million that year. About 70 percent of all sufganiyot consumed are stuffed with jelly, but a number of contemporary Israeli fillings have become popular, including halva, crème espresso, chocolate truffle, and numerous exotic flavors. Jelly doughnuts in Brazil are commonly filled with dulce de leche (a milky caramel), which recently also became a popular Israeli filling, known as ribat chalav in Hebrew. American Jews by and large adopted the sufganiyah, although most tend to stick to the old- fashioned jelly fillings and a confectioners’ sugar dusting."
Now we have the background of the jelly doughnut, let's get baking. You'll need:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package active dry yeast (1/4 oz)
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup warm milk
2 tablespoon room temp butter
1/4 tsp nutmeg
vegetable oil to fry in
grape jelly to fill doughnut
This is where your KitchenAid or stand mixer will come in handy with a dough hook. Add the flour, nutmeg, sugar, yeast and salt into the mixer and turn it on for 1 minute. This will allow all the dry ingredients to come together. Add the warm milk, while the mixer is on. Slowly add your egg yolks and drop the butter in a little at a time. Allow your dough hook on your KitchenAid to do all the work by letting it knead for 5 minutes. If you don't have a KitchenAid mixer, bring your ingredients together and knead by hand for 10 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a floured board and lightly bring the dough together. By this I mean, do not knead but gently turn the dough into itself and add additional (little at a time) flour onto the board if needed.
The dough will still be a little sticky and you want to let it rest in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to proof (rise) for 2 hours. During this time the dough will triple in size and become light and fluffy. You may notice air bubbles on your dough, that's perfect and exactly what we're looking for.
Again you're going to turn the proofed dough onto a cutting board and shape with your hands to make a square. Use a 1" or 2" circle cutter to make the doughnuts. If you don't have a cutter you can use the top of a glass that is floured.
The doughnuts need to be fried in batches so you don't reduce the heat of the oil. Ideally it should be 375 degrees and if you have a candy thermometer you can use it to check the temperature. I like to do it old school way and live on the edge. I drop a few drops of water in the hot oil. When it starts to sizzle (sometimes if it's too hot it will spit at me) you know the oil is at the correct temperature. I said it was old school, I never said it was the correct way to do it, but it works for me.
By the way, I always fry with a large container of baking soda or salt next to me. This is what I call "damage control" if a grease fire should happen. Never put water on a grease fire. Always extinguish a grease fire with baking soda or salt after the heat source is turned off. You also can put a large lid over the pot to starve the fire of oxygen. This is preferred way to put out the fire rather than the powder clean-up you'll have to address with the baking soda or salt. Why are I talking about a kitchen fire? Because it happens to the best of us people! Yes it has happened to me and I couldn't pull off, "the recipe said it was a blackened Cajun thing".
Now we have perfectly pillows of fried dough and they smell so good. Let them cool completely before you fill them with jelly and dust the top with powdered sugar.
Note to chef: you must fry the extra dough in odd shapes for quality control. I enjoy the fried dough before it's filled with a cup of tea. This is my reward for making a delicious sufganiyot. Being Italian, these remind me of the Christmas Strufoli on steroids, only instead of honey for sweetness, there's grape jelly.
To all my friends who celebrate Hanukkah, may peace and love fill your homes during this festival of lights.
**GLUTEN FREE OPTION**
2 cups of Bob's Red Mill One to One Baking Flour (minus 2 tbsp.) instead of regular flour. By taking away the 2 tbsp, it lightens the dough so it's not dense.
Enjoy and please share your pictures of your doughnuts with us.
*** this receipt is subject to copy wright laws - do not reproduce for commercial use***