Hanukkah jelly doughnuts (soufganiot)

24 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
½ cup Warm water; (about 115 degrees)
5 teaspoons Active dry yeast
(2 envelopes plus 1/2 tspn)
⅓ cup Granulated sugar plus 1 pinch; divided
1 cup Warm milk or water
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Eggs
⅓ cup Vegetable oil or melted vegetable
Shortening
5½ teaspoon Salt
4¼ cup All-purpose flour; (to 5 cups)
Vegetable oil; for frying
2 cups Jam or jelly; at room temperature

Directions

In large mixing bowl, stir together ½ cup warm water, yeast and pinch sugar. Let stand for several minutes. Stir in remaining ⅓ cup sugar, milk, vanilla, eggs, oil, salt and most of the flour to make a soft dough.

Knead for 5 to 8 minutes by hand or with a dough hook, adding more flour as needed to form a firmer dough that is smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl. Place bowl in plastic bag and seal. (If making dough a day in advance, refrigerate at this point.) Let rise for about 1 hour. Gently deflate. (If dough was refrigerated, let come to room temperature for about 40 minutes before proceeding). Pinch off pieces of dough and form into small balls, a little larger than a golf ball. Alternately, roll dough about ¾ inch thick and cut into 2½- or 3-inch rounds. Cover doughnuts with a clean tea towel; let sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Heat about 4 inches oil in deep fryer or heavy Dutch oven to about 385 degrees. Fry a test doughnut; oil should bubble. Fry until underside is deep brown. Turn once; fry until other side is deep brown. Total frying time should be 1 ½ to 3 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Check middle of doughnut to make sure inside is cooked. If not, reduce heat of oil slightly. Fry remaining doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time. To fill, make a small opening in each doughnut; spoon in jam or jelly. (Instead of filling doughnuts, you can shake them in a paper bag with granulated or powdered sugar.) Yield: 2 to 2 ½ dozen doughnuts.

Tester's note: Time-consuming but good recipe that yielded, light, non-greasy doughnuts. I made the dough and let it rise in a bread machine with a 2-pound loaf capacity. Smaller machines would not be able to handle this recipe.

Recipe Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 12-14-1998 Recipe adapted from "A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking" by Marcy Goldman (Doubleday, $25) Formatted for MasterCook by Susan Wolfe - swolfe1@...

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