Bola de Berlim

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gstrong white flour
• 10 ginstant yeast
• 70 gsugar
• 1 tspsalt
• 3egg yolks
• 1egg
• 200 mlwarm milk
• 70 gbutter, softened
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbspbrandy, optional

Custard

• 500 mlmilk
• 6egg yolks
• 120 gsugar
• 40 gcornflour
• 1strip lemon peel
• 1cinnamon stick

To finish

• 1.5 litresneutral oil, for frying
• 200 gcaster sugar

Directions

1. Make the custard first, because it has to be cold before it can be piped. Heat the milk with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick to a bare simmer, then take it off the heat and leave it to infuse for 15 minutes.
2. Whisk the yolks, sugar and cornflour to a smooth paste, pour in a ladle of the hot milk while whisking, then return everything to the pan.
3. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens, and then keep cooking for one full minute more. Cornflour needs that extra minute to cook out, and custard pulled off early will thin back down as it cools.
4. Strain the custard into a bowl, press cling film directly onto the surface so no skin forms, and refrigerate until completely cold.
5. For the dough, mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then add the yolks, whole egg, warm milk, lemon zest and brandy and bring it together into a shaggy mass.
6. Knead for 10 minutes, then work in the softened butter a small piece at a time, kneading after each until the dough is smooth and glossy. Butter added at the start coats the flour and you never develop the gluten that gives these their pull.
7. Cover and prove for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until doubled in size.
8. Knock back and divide into 12 pieces of about 75 g. Roll each into a tight ball, then flatten it gently to about 2 cm thick and set it on its own small square of floured paper.
9. Prove for a further 45 minutes to 1 hour, until visibly puffed and light to the touch.
10. Heat the oil to 165°C (330°F), which is lower than you would use for most frying. These are thick, and hotter oil browns the outside long before the middle is cooked.
11. Lower them in on their paper squares and peel the paper away with tongs. Fry about 3 minutes a side, turning once, until deep gold with a pale untouched band right round the middle. That white ring is the mark of a properly proved bola, and its absence means the dough was underproved or the oil too hot.
12. Drain briefly on a rack, then roll each one in caster sugar while still warm so that it sticks.
13. Let them cool completely, then split each almost but not quite in half and pipe in a thick line of custard so it stands proud of the cut. A beach bola is filled to excess on purpose, and a mean one is not the same thing at all.

Technique

• The pale band around the equator is the visual test for the whole recipe. Watch for it.
• Never fill a warm bun. The custard slumps and the sugar coating dissolves into it.
• The low frying temperature is not a mistake. It is the single most common thing people get wrong with these.

Substitutions

• Doce de ovos, the older and much richer yolk-and-sugar-syrup filling, in place of the pastry cream.
• Lard for frying, the traditional Portuguese fat, which gives a shorter, cleaner finish.

Variations

• Filled with chocolate custard, sold alongside the plain ones on Portuguese beaches.
• Filled with sweetened whipped cream, a lighter modern version.
• Made small, at about 40 g each, for a tray of miniatures.

History

A fried, sugar-coated dough ball filled with a rich egg custard, its name meaning literally Berlin ball, reflecting the pastry’s clear connection to the German Berliner doughnut, generally believed to have been introduced to Portugal by German or Central European bakers or through broader European pastry exchange sometime in the 1800s or early 1900s. Portuguese bakers adapted the imported German pastry with a rich egg custard filling rather than the jam more typical of the German original, reflecting Portugal’s own strong tradition of egg-yolk-based sweets found across many of its other traditional pastries and confections. Bola de berlim became especially closely associated with Portuguese beach culture, sold by vendors walking along beaches, particularly during the summer season, making it as much associated with a specific seaside social ritual as with its bakery origins.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bola de Berlim?

Bola de Berlim is a street food from Portugal: fried sugared doughnut split and filled with egg custard, hawked along beaches. A fried, sugar-coated dough ball filled with a rich egg custard, its name meaning literally Berlin ball, reflecting the pastry’s clear connection to the German Berliner doughnut, generally believed to have been introduced to Portugal by German or Central European bakers or through broader European pastry exchange sometime in the 1800s or early 1900s. Portuguese bakers adapted the imported German pastry with a rich egg custard filling rather than the jam more typical of the German original, reflecting Portugal’s own strong tradition of egg-yolk-based sweets found across many of its other traditional pastries and confections. Bola de berlim became especially closely associated with Portuguese beach culture, sold by vendors walking along beaches, particularly during the summer season, making it as much associated with a specific seaside social ritual as with its bakery origins.

How long does Bola de Berlim take to make?

Bola de Berlim takes 45 min plus 2 hr 30 min rising of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 buns. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Bola de Berlim?

Yes, within limits. Doce de ovos, the older and much richer yolk-and-sugar-syrup filling, in place of the pastry cream. Lard for frying, the traditional Portuguese fat, which gives a shorter, cleaner finish.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bola de Berlim?

Knead for 10 minutes, then work in the softened butter a small piece at a time, kneading after each until the dough is smooth and glossy. Butter added at the start coats the flour and you never develop the gluten that gives these their pull.