Bomboloni

Little Italian doughnuts. This delicious desert that I got from 'Mario Batali Cooks' iPhone application, with it's funny name, is very easy fun to make just like it's name. The good thing too is it goes down well with anything like coffee, juice, ice cream you name it. Sometimes these are made with a stuffing of jam or custard. These, however, are just plain and really good with some coffee. Lets' not waist time and get to it.

Ingredients

3 packages instant yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoon honey (optional)

1 egg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 tsp. salt

3 to 4 cups bread  flour

1 cup sugar for coating combined with

1 tsp. cinnamon (optional, did mine without it)

Vegetable or canola oil  for deep frying

Directions

In a dry plastic bowl and by hand (clean), mix together the yeast (if you use active yeast dissolve it in cool water first before mix with other ingredients), water, sugar, honey, egg, butter, milk and salt. If you have

a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment please by all means use that.

 Slowly add in the flour. You may use as little as 3 cups or as much as four. Just add in enough flour until the dough is not too sticky.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours, if you want to have it for breakfast then prepare the dough a day before and keep in the

refrigerator overnight

Punch dough down lightly, cause if you punch it too hard you will take out all the gases which it will still need to rise. So if you are stressed please don't take it out on the dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out about 1/4 inch thick. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter to cut out as many rounds as possible (don't use leftover scraps). (At this stage, the Bombolini can be frozen for up to 1 week if well wrapped in plastic wrap. Allow the Bombolini to defrost in the refrigerator before proofing). Place on floured baking sheets and let rise again until doubled, about 10 minutes.

Put the 1 cup of sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and set aside.

In a large, heavy pot over high heat, pour in oil. Heat the oil about 15 minutes over medium-high heat (about 160-175 degrees C). Fry 4 Bomboloni at one time, any more than that and the oil temperature will dip down too much and they will not fry evenly. Fry for a total of 1 to 2 minutes or until

they are golden brown

. 

Turn to evenly fry each side. As they fry, they will increase in size. It's fun to watch them turn from flat discs into little puffs as they fry.

Transfer to paper towels to drain. While still warm, toss in the sugar to coat thoroughly. Repeat with remaining dough.

If desired, fill the Bomboloni with a jam or custard. It is best to fill the Bomboloni while they are still warm and the dough soft and pliable. Serve immediately.

Comments are welcome. Enjoy!