Makes 30 - 35 Fritti
Fritti was something my zia Nina made every time I saw her. She lives in California and therefore when she visited or I visited, it was a must do. I am so thankful that many years ago I had her show me how to make them as it does take getting used to the dough to get them right. It is so important to get air into them so they don't become doughy instead of airy and light and fluffy.
Because they are deep fried, I make these at the cabin on an outdoor burner. There is something about making them outdoors in cold, rainy or hot weather that just makes them so much better. In the video's you will see there is lots of background noise as I spent the holidays with my kids and their four boys and let me tell you they never stop, which is a great thing!
NOTE: you will need a second person to help with frying the donuts
Ingredients
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp instant yeast
6 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
5 eggs
2 cups warm milk
2 Bacel oil bottles for deep frying
Directions
Add yeast to warm water and stir, let sit for five minutes
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and salt
Make a well in the middle and add eggs and yeast mixture
Using your hands break eggs and start mixing eggs and yeast mixture into the flour
Slowly pour milk into the flour mixture and incorporate all the flour until you have a sticky dough
The following 2 videos shows this step
Lift and flip the dough until you have air bubble forming, it will take about 10 minutes before you are done.
The following video shows these steps
Once done loosely cover the dough with saran wrap and top with a couple of tea towels (note, I didn’t do this but suggest you do, pat some oil on the dough before covering with saran so the dough won’t stick to the saran when taking it off)
Place somewhere warm such as a stove with the oven on or like I show in the video near a fireplace
The following video shows these steps
After two hours you will see the dough doubled in size
Take off the saran and we will need to punch it down by lifting and flipping it like you did the first time. This will get the bubbles happening again
Note it won’t take more than a couple of minutes to see them
Once done, coat the dough with a little oil before covering with saran wrap so the dough won’t stick and top with tea towels
Place in warm spot for two hours or until the dough has tripled in size
In the meantime prepare your area for deep frying
I use Bacel oil for deep frying as it doesn’t produce any odors when frying and I find the fritti doesn’t absorb it too much. Using a large sauce pan pour two containers of oil and set aside
Line an extra-large bowl or roaster with paper towel, keep paper towels on hand
Add 1 cup oil in a small bowl to use when making the donuts
Set a long fork or tongs next to the sauce pan to stir and scoop the fritti
Fill a bowl with sugar for dipping
The following video has these steps
When you are ready to make the fritti, place oil filled sauce pan on burner and heat oil until you see it starting to swirl. You can take a tiny piece of dough and place it in the sauce pan, if the dough pops to the top and is bubbly, you are ready to cook the fritti
Oil your hands and grab a handful of dough and make a hole in the dough rotating the dough in your hands so you have a donut shape
Place it in the pot and have your partner use the fork or tongs to open and twirl around the center of the fritti hole so that it opens up
Add three to four fritti at a time so you don’t have them sticking together and they have room to grow
Once they have a golden brown colour on the one side flip them over and golden brown the second side. They come in all shapes and sizes
Take out of pot and place in paper towel lined pan
The following video has this step
As you fill up the first layer of fritti, lay another layer of paper towel on top of the fritti and keep doing this until you are done
Finally take the warm fritti and dip it in sugar and enjoy the hot fritti. You can also add cinnamon to the sugar.
Comments