Sufganiot (Jewish Donuts)

This year I decided to spoil my family with some traditional Hanukkah snacks, Sufganiot, which a Jewish donuts. During Hanukkah, it is a tradition to eat foods fried in oil, to commemorate the miracle of the lamp oil that lasted for eight days when it should have only lasted for one.

This recipe is a Sephardic style donut called Bunuelos (aka bimuelos), a rustic yeast-raised and fried donut. Sephardic is a general term referring to the descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. For Hanukkah, these donuts are traditionally eaten with honey; any other time they are also terrific with powdered sugar.

I found this recipe at pbs.org, it seems to take a long time to load the page so I have copied the recipe below.















Ingredients
1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 cups warm water, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon oil
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (14.6 ounces)
Oil for deep frying
Honey (or powdered sugar)

Instructions

• Stir the yeast into 1 cup of the warm water and allow to proof. (If you don’t see bubbles after a few minutes, buy new yeast.)
• Mix in the remaining cup of water along with the salt, sugar and tablespoon of oil. Slowly stir in the flour, and keep stirring until you have a smooth, wet dough.
• Cover and allow to rise in a warm spot for at least 1 hour. (I’ve allowed it to go four hours, stirring down occasionally, and it only gets more delicious).
• Put 3 inches of oil in a pot suitable for deep frying and bring to 370 degrees F. Line a tray with paper towels. Get a bowl of water ready.
• Moisten your hands in the bowl of water and grab about 3 tablespoons of the dough.
• Quickly form it into a rough ball and poke a hole through the center. These are supposed to be rustic, don’t spend any time trying to make them perfect.
• Drop carefully into the oil. Repeat for as many as will fit comfortably in your pot without crowding. Fry until golden brown on one side, then flip and brown the other side. Use a slotted spoon to remove to paper towels.
• Drizzle with honey (or offer honey for dipping, or dust with powdered sugar) and serve immediately.

Next time I make these I'll probably 1/2 the recipe, it makes a lot, I made about 10 or so donuts, which was enough for the 4 of us, but I could have made 12 more most probably.