Bofrot

Ingredients

The dough

• 600 gplain flour
• 150 gsugar
• or to taste
• 7 gsachet fast-action dried yeast
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• half a teaspoon grated nutmeg
• or a pinch of cinnamon

The liquid

• about 350 ml warm water
• or warm milk
• or evaporated milk, diluted
• 1egg, beaten
• optional
• 50 gbutter, melted
• or 3 tablespoons oil
• optional

For frying

• 1 litrevegetable oil
• or enough for 8 cm depth

To serve

• hot, on their own
• sugar, to dust, optional
• with tea or a soft drink

Directions

1. Adjust it and taste the raw batter is not an option. Flour can carry E. coli and should not be eaten raw. Put the flour into a large bowl. Add the sugar and the yeast to one side. Add the salt to the opposite side. Add the nutmeg and stir the dry ingredients together.
2. Warm the water or milk until just warm. It must not be hot at any point. Heat kills yeast and the dough will not rise. Pour most of the liquid into the flour.
3. Add the egg and melted butter if you use them. Mix with your hand or a wooden spoon. This is a thick batter rather than a dough. Add more liquid if it is stiff like bread dough. Add more flour if it pours like a pancake batter. Beat the batter hard for about three minutes.
4. Use your hand or a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with a cloth or cling film. Leave it somewhere warm for about two hours. It should roughly double and become bubbly. Use a deep heavy pot. Bofrot need depth so they can turn themselves. Fill the pot no more than one third full. Oil bubbles up sharply when batter goes in. Never leave hot oil unattended for a moment.
5. Keep a well fitting lid within easy reach. If the oil catches fire, turn off the heat. Heat the oil to one hundred and seventy degrees. That is moderate rather than very hot.
6. Scoop a ball of batter and drop it into the oil. Take a handful and squeeze it upward. Scoop it off with a wet spoon into the oil. That is the traditional method and it takes practice. Drop five or six in at a time. Do not crowd the pot at any point. Fry them for five or six minutes. They should be deep golden brown all over.
7. Break it open and look inside. It should be light, bready and cooked through. Lift them out with a slotted spoon. Drain them on a rack over kitchen paper. A rack keeps them far less greasy.
8. Let the oil recover between batches. Serve them hot, within minutes. Dust them with sugar if you like. The dough is sweet enough as it is. Let it come to room temperature before frying. Reheat them from frozen in a hot oven.

Technique

• The consistency is the dish. This is a thick batter, not a dough — too wet to knead, thick enough to drop reluctantly from a spoon. Stiff like bread dough and it will be heavy; pouring like pancake batter and it will not hold a shape.
• Beat the batter hard for three minutes before rising. That develops the gluten and works air in, and both make the finished bofrot lighter.
• Do not knock the batter back after rising. Those bubbles are what make it light — handle it gently from there.
• Fry at 170 degrees, moderate rather than hot. These are thick and need time inside; hotter oil browns the outside while the centre stays raw doughy, which is the commonest failure. Break the first one open and check before frying the rest.
• Use deep oil, about eight centimetres. In enough depth they turn themselves over and come out evenly round, which is where the shape comes from.
• Deep-frying rules apply: fill the pot no more than a third, never leave it unattended, keep a lid within reach, and if the oil catches fire turn off the heat and smother it. Never throw water on burning oil.
• Give the batter the full two hours. Sugar slows yeast considerably, so an enriched sweet batter rises slowly — raising the heat instead makes it taste strongly of raw yeast.
• The liquid must be only just warm. Hot liquid kills the yeast and nothing will rise.
• Do not taste the raw batter to judge the sugar. Raw flour can carry E. coli and raw egg carries its own risk, so measure rather than taste.
• Drain on a rack rather than paper alone, which lets them sit in absorbed oil.
• The traditional shaping squeezes batter up through a fist so a ball emerges between thumb and forefinger, scooped off with a wet spoon. A wet spoon or an ice cream scoop does the same job with less practice.
• Bofrot is also called togbei, goat’s legs in Ewe. The same thing is puff puff in Nigeria and Cameroon, yovo doko in Benin and Togo, and mandazi in East Africa — a very wide family that the atlas records without claiming a single origin.

Substitutions

• Water replaces milk entirely and is what is most often used.
• Evaporated milk, diluted, replaces fresh milk and is common in Ghana.
• The egg and butter both enrich the batter and both can be left out.
• Cinnamon or a little grated ginger replaces nutmeg.
• Palm oil can be used for frying and gives a distinct colour and flavour.
• Grated coconut or mashed banana can be worked into the batter.

Variations

• Puff puff in Nigeria is the same batter under a different name.
• Yovo doko in Benin and Togo carries a name that means white person’s dough ball.
• Mandazi and amandazi in East Africa are the kneaded, cardamom-spiced relatives.
• Magwinya and vetkoek in southern Africa are often savoury and split to hold a filling.
• Atwemo, made from a stiffer dough cut into shapes, is another Ghanaian fried snack.
• A version with mashed ripe plantain worked into the batter is made in some households.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bofrot?

Bofrot is a snack from Ghana: yeasted sweet fried doughnut balls.

How long does Bofrot take to make?

Bofrot takes 20 minutes plus 2 hours rising of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes about 24. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Bofrot?

Yes, within limits. Water replaces milk entirely and is what is most often used. Evaporated milk, diluted, replaces fresh milk and is common in Ghana. The egg and butter both enrich the batter and both can be left out. Cinnamon or a little grated ginger replaces nutmeg. Palm oil can be used for frying and gives a distinct colour and flavour. Grated coconut or mashed banana can be worked into the batter.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bofrot?

Warm the water or milk until just warm. It must not be hot at any point. Heat kills yeast and the dough will not rise. Pour most of the liquid into the flour.