How to fry doughnuts

Frying enriched doughs can be challenging, even for very experienced cooks. The sugars can caramelize on the outside, making the dough dark before the enriched inside cooks.

There are two things built into this recipe to help you. First, the dough is only partially proofed each time, so it will get the most poof and spring once it hits the heat and will be very light and fluffy inside, so it can cook through with ease.

Second, the heat is a bit lower than most frying recipes; not low enough to be greasy or to absorb a huge amount of oil, but not high enough to over-brown the outside. Now, that does mean that you must be vigilant about the oil temperature and check it constantly and increase or reduce heat as necessary. It's not simple, but it will ensure the best results.

The pot used for this recipe was a coated 6-quart cast iron pot, about 10 inches wide and 5 inches deep, and the oil was about 2 1/2 inches deep. That was enough to fry four doughnuts at a time without any of them touching, and still left plenty of room to turn them. Cast iron holds heat incredibly well and is great for frying. You can use a larger, wider pot, up to 7 1/2 quarts, but make sure you use enough oil to come at least 2 1/2 inches up the side of the pot and that you can fry five at a time.

Filling jelly doughnuts

Some sufganiyot makers fill their doughnuts Berliner-style: two thin discs with a dab of jelly in between. Expert bakers can ace this style, but frankly, I don't go there. The problem is that the discs tend to leak, and if even a little bit of the jelly gets into the hot oil, it will burn and you'll need new oil for subsequent batches, not to mention stopping to deal with hot, now-yucky oil. I make sure that my sufganiyot are all but guaranteed to succeed. I fill a pastry bag with jelly, poke the doughnuts with its sharp tip, and squeeze the jelly into the fried doughnut. Making sufganiyot simply works better with this less-traditional technique.

Jelly Doughnuts (Sufganiyot)

Makes 22 doughnuts

1/2 cup warm water (between 90 F and 100 F)

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