Ingredients
400 g flour 00 ( or ½ 00 and ½ Manitoba flour)
100 g lard
30 g yeast
100 g tepid milk
3 egg yolks
15 g sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
Custard for garnishing (click here)
Granulated sugar for garnishing
Peanut oil for frying
Directions
Dilute the yeast in a little tepid milk and mix it with 130 g of flour ( use a planetary mixer if you can, or proceed in the traditional way) . Cross cut the dough and leave to rise in a tepid place until its volume will be doubled. After this time has elapsed, add the remaining ingredients and work well until the dough is compact enough, smooth and dry. Now, put the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and put it again to rise for about two hours.
With the raised dough shape some balls having the size of a small orange (about 50-60 grams) or, if you want to get the donuts (those with the hole and no filling), shape some sticks and make a ring shape with them. Cover them and let them rise for another hour.
It is good to remember that they can be stuffed before frying, by using the arancine (rice balls) method, or you can fry them whole and then stuff them. I would recommend the second method, and hereafter I will describe it to you .
Fry the donuts in not too hot oil (170 ° ) and , once golden , place them on paper towels suitable for cooking. Once you’ve fried them, dip them into granulated sugar and then cut an incision in the center of each donut. With the help of pastry bag for decorations, in which you have poured the custard, fill up the donuts until the cream comes out (see photo). As for the donuts shaped in a ring with hole and no filling instead, once you’ve fried them, dip them into the granulated sugar and they are ready.
Curiosity
The donuts or doughnuts, or simply called Graffe or Krapfen in Sicilian dialect, are part of Sicilian pastries-baked goods, although they have austrian origin (and Bavarian origin : Berliner or Pfannkuchen) . This sweet, very common in Italy, differs from area to area, both in the name and, in some cases, also in the ingredients for the dough and the filling.
They’re called Bombe (i.e. bombs) or “bomboloni” (i.e. donuts ) in the central and southern regions of Italy, and krapfen in the north of Italy. I remember that, as a kid, I often ate krapfens, in Porto San Giorgio (AP), stuffed with custard.
We propose you the recipe we prepare in our surroundings. For the dough you’ll need the ingredients of the official recipe, namely flour, yeast, milk, eggs and sugar. The classic filling is the custard in Palermo, although today it is easy to find them filled with the “modern ” Nutella or with ricotta cheese cream. It is up to you , you’ll be spoiled for choice .
