There isn't much time, so a quick one.For the Fat Thursday, I present to You Granny Krysia's Doughnuts

[Click here for Polish/Klinkij żeby przeczytać po Polsku]

Grandma

Granny Krysia, My Dad's Mom, was wonderful. You know, a granny type of a person. Nice, patient, with a sense of humour, a master chef. She could do anything, just not too fast.

I remember a couple things she used to make in the kitchen:

• biscuits
• very thin egg pasta
• plum dumplings called knedle
• doughnuts

My Cousin has found Granny's recipe notebook. Since it's Fat Thursday (or Mardi Gras) tomorrow, it's time for doughnuts :)

The recipe

It's a rather standard recipe, very typical: 1 kg of flour, a cup of sugar, as much milk as it takes (yes, that's what she has written). I tried it and I'm adding more standard units.

I'm trying out a new technique of shaping doughnuts with the filling inside.

Alternatively, the dough can be used to cut out "empty" doughnuts, round or heart-shaped.

Planning

You need to start the yeast, knead the dough, proof it, form the doughnuts, proof them, fry.

I recommend having:

• a scale
• a kitchen robot
• a heavy-based saucepan
• a cookie cutter, or a glass

Ingredients

Makes 12 doughnuts

• 500 g plain flour
• 110 g sugar
• 50 g fresh yeast
• 250 ml lukewarm milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon rectified spirit (I used rum)
• a pinch of salt
• 50 g butter
• a stiff marmalade for the filling
• a lot of fat to fry (lard will by good, I prefer oil)

Preparation

1. Mix the yeast with lukewarm milk and sugar, leave for 10-15 minutes to start working
2. Place flour, salt, yeast leaven and alcohol (no butter yet) in a mixer bowl and mix with a dough hook
3. In the meantime melt the butter
4. When the dough is developed properly, gradually add butter. Each time make sure the previous part got incorporated before continuing
5. Leave to proof. The dough needs to double in volume, which in my case meant 90 minutes
6. Take the dough out onto a flour-dusted surface and flatten into a square shape. When doing this for the first time, I gave it a 4x4 sections of a cookie cutter size
7. Place the marmalade on one half of the dough (eight portions)
   
8. Fold half of the dough onto the other (make sure you stick the sides to each other so that the filling doesn't escape in any way) and cut the doughnut rings making sure the filling lands right in the middle
   
9. Join the cuts in a single portion of dough and start over from point 6 until you run out of it
10. The doughnuts must proof. Again, in my cold kitchen it took 60-90 minutes
11. Heat up the oil to 175-180 C degrees. I use a thermometer to make sure the oil doesn't get burnt
12. Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side
13. Transfer the ready doughnuts onto a paper towel to soak up a bit of oil

That's about it. If you like them with the icing, make it (I recommend adding a home made orange peel), if you prefere sugar, sprinkle the doughnuts with it. Whatever makes you happy.

I'm happy :)