Sufganiyah

Ingredients

Dough

• 600 gstrong white flour
• 250 mlwarm milk
• 80 gsugar
• 80 gbutter, softened
• 2eggs
• 10 ginstant yeast
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspvanilla
• grated zest of 1 lemon

Filling

• 350 gthick strawberry or raspberry jam
• or lemon curd, dulce de leche, or chocolate custard

To fry

• neutral oil, for deep frying

To finish

• icing sugar, in quantity

Equipment

• a piping bag with a long narrow nozzle
• a 7 cm cutter

Directions

1. Warm the milk to blood heat and mix it with the yeast and a spoonful of the sugar. Mix the flour, remaining sugar, salt, zest and vanilla, then add the milk and eggs.
2. Knead 5 minutes, then add the softened butter a piece at a time and keep kneading. Add the butter after the gluten has begun to form. Butter added at the start coats the flour and the dough never develops properly.
3. Knead 10 minutes in total until smooth, glossy and elastic. Prove for about 1 hour 30 minutes until doubled. Now roll the dough out to about 1.5 cm thick. Keep it thick. Thin dough gives flat, dense doughnuts, and sufganiyot should be tall and light with a pale band around the middle.
4. Cut rounds with a floured cutter, pressing straight down without twisting. Never twist the cutter, which seals the edge and stops the doughnut rising evenly. Set them on squares of floured baking paper, well apart. Prove them a second time for 45 minutes until visibly puffed and light.
5. Prove them properly. They should wobble slightly when the tray is moved. Fry 90 seconds to 2 minutes a side. Do not crowd the pan, which drops the temperature immediately. Turn them once only, and turn them gently. They are ready when they are deep golden with a pale band around the middle.
6. Drain them on a rack rather than paper. Let them cool almost completely before filling. Fill them warm and the jam thins and runs straight back out. Now the filling, which goes in cold. Make a hole in the side with a skewer or the nozzle, working it into the centre. Pipe in a generous amount until you feel the doughnut swell slightly in your hand.
7. Use a thick jam rather than a runny one, which leaks straight back out of the hole. Sugar them shortly before serving rather than hours ahead, since the sugar dissolves into the surface. Serve them the day they are made, which is the only day they are good.

Technique

• Israeli bakeries begin selling them weeks before Hanukkah and compete over fillings.
• The paper square trick makes lowering proved dough into oil far easier.
• They stale within hours and are always eaten fresh.

Substitutions

• Any thick jam, curd or custard as a filling.
• Water in place of milk for a pareve dough, which is common.

Variations

• Filled with dulce de leche.
• Filled with chocolate custard.
• Baked rather than fried, which is a different and lesser thing.

History

Jam doughnut fried for Hanukkah, when oil-cooked foods recall the temple lamp; bakeries start selling in November.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sufganiyah?

Sufganiyah is a dessert from Israel: jelly-filled Hanukkah doughnut dusted with sugar. Jam doughnut fried for Hanukkah, when oil-cooked foods recall the temple lamp; bakeries start selling in November.

How long does Sufganiyah take to make?

Sufganiyah takes 40 min plus 2 hr rising of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 18. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Sufganiyah?

Yes, within limits. Any thick jam, curd or custard as a filling. Water in place of milk for a pareve dough, which is common.

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

Knead 5 minutes, then add the softened butter a piece at a time and keep kneading. Add the butter after the gluten has begun to form. Butter added at the start coats the flour and the dough never develops properly.