Schmalzkuchen

Ingredients

The dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 250 mlwarm milk
• 7 gdried yeast
• 50 gsugar
• 60 gbutter, melted
• 2eggs
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• optional

To fry

• oil or lard, for deep frying
• a deep heavy pot
• see the notes

To finish

• 200 gicing sugar
• for dusting
• generously

To serve

• in a paper bag
• hot from the fryer
• at a Christmas market

Directions

1. Oil is neutral and more common now. The outside sets firm around it. Fill it no more than half full at all. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on a fat fire at all.
2. Keep children well away from the pot. About one hundred and seventy degrees is right. Drop a scrap of dough in to test it. It should rise and sizzle at once. Adjust the heat before the batch. Warm the milk gently in a jug. Stir the yeast and a little sugar in.
3. Let it stand for ten full minutes. It should foam right up visibly. Discard it and start again if not. Put the flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the salt to one side of it. Salt kills yeast on direct contact. Keep them apart until it is mixed. Add the yeast milk and the eggs. Add the melted butter and zest.
4. Bring it together into a dough. It should be soft and slightly sticky. Knead it for about eight minutes. It should become smooth and elastic. Oil your hands if it sticks badly. Do not add any more flour to it. Put the dough in an oiled bowl.
5. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Give it about ninety full minutes. Roll it out on a floured surface. Roll it about one centimetre thick. Cut the dough into small squares. About four centimetres across is right. Use a knife or a pastry wheel. Cut them roughly rather than precisely. Cover the squares and let them rise. Give them about twenty full minutes.
6. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. Use a thermometer if you have one. Otherwise test with a scrap of dough. Adjust the heat before you start. Dropping them splashes hot fat. Use a slotted spoon to lower them. Stand well back as they go in. Do not crowd the pot at any point.
7. Work in small batches instead. Cooking them takes about three minutes. Turn them once as they colour. Three minutes in total is usual. Turn any that stay one side up. Judging them takes a careful look. Check the temperature between batches.
8. Tear one open the very first time. The inside should be cooked through. Lift them out onto a wire rack. Let all the excess fat drip away. That softens them within minutes.
9. Let them cool for a minute only. The sugar needs a warm surface. Toss them all in the icing sugar. Put the sugar into a paper bag. Add all the warm pieces into it. Shake the bag well to coat them. That is genuinely how it is done.
10. Use far more than seems needed. Sugar them while they are warm. Serve them straight from the bag. They are extremely hot inside. Steam is trapped in the hollow. Give them a minute before biting.

Technique

• A deep pot of hot fat is genuinely dangerous. Fill it no more than half full, never leave it unattended, lower the pieces in gently with a slotted spoon rather than dropping them, keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up, never put water on a fat fire and keep children away.
• The pieces puff hollow and trap steam inside, which can genuinely scald — biting straight into one releases it and burns the mouth badly. Give them a minute before eating and warn children particularly.
• Fry at about one hundred and seventy degrees: too hot and they burn before cooking through, too cool and they soak up the fat. Test with a scrap of dough, which should rise and sizzle at once and brown in about a minute, and check the temperature between batches — a piece that comes out heavy rather than almost empty absorbed too much fat.

Substitutions

• They were traditionally fried in lard, which is what schmalz means, and most are fried in oil now; both are genuinely used. Lard is an animal fat, so oil-fried ones are vegetarian and lard-fried ones are not — say clearly which you have made.
• A pastry wheel gives a fluted edge and a knife a plain one; squares are traditional and diamonds also common, cut roughly rather than precisely since the irregularity is part of it.

Variations

• Roll the dough about one centimetre thick, since it puffs to several times that — thinner goes crisp rather than light and thicker stays raw inside — and give the cut squares a second twenty-minute rise, which makes them noticeably lighter.
• Toss them in icing sugar in a paper bag while still warm, shaking to coat, which is genuinely how it is done: sugar sticks to a warm surface and slides off a cold one entirely. Use far more sugar than seems needed, since being snowed in it is entirely the point.
• Err on the softer side with the dough, since a soft dough gives light results and a firm one gives heavy pieces; oil your hands rather than adding flour if it sticks.

History

A German funfair and Christmas market fixture, related to Dutch oliebollen and sold by the paper bag.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schmalzkuchen?

Schmalzkuchen is a street food from Germany: small squares of yeast dough fried in fat and snowed with icing sugar. A German funfair and Christmas market fixture, related to Dutch oliebollen and sold by the paper bag.

How long does Schmalzkuchen take to make?

Schmalzkuchen takes 30 minutes plus rising of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 40 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Schmalzkuchen?

Yes, within limits. They were traditionally fried in lard, which is what schmalz means, and most are fried in oil now; both are genuinely used. Lard is an animal fat, so oil-fried ones are vegetarian and lard-fried ones are not — say clearly which you have made. A pastry wheel gives a fluted edge and a knife a plain one; squares are traditional and diamonds also common, cut roughly rather than precisely since the irregularity is part of it.

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

Oil is neutral and more common now. The outside sets firm around it. Fill it no more than half full at all. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on a fat fire at all.