Zvezda donuts

What a delightful wish for the carnival season, full of mischievous smiles and finger-licking treats!

INGREDIENTS

• 500 g good quality white wheat flour
• 4 egg yolks
• 30 g fresh yeast
• 60 g butter
• 50 g vanilla sugar + 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 level teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon rum
• 300 ml lukewarm milk + 3 tablespoons lukewarm milk
• Oil for frying
• Filling of your choice (apricot jam, vanilla cream, chocolate cream...)
• Vanilla powdered sugar for dusting

PREPARATION METHOD

All ingredients should be warm. The dough should be prepared to be soft enough to be handled with a spoon, but not with hands. Flour should not be added all at once but gradually, as the required amount of flour depends on its moisture, egg size, and how the additional ingredients are measured, so there might be some left over. Some rum is added to the dough for the donuts to absorb less fat.

In a small pot, mix a few tablespoons of lukewarm milk with a teaspoon of sugar and 30 g of yeast and let it rise.

Separately, mix 60 g of softened butter, 50 g of vanilla sugar, a leveled teaspoon of salt, 4 egg yolks, and a tablespoon of rum. Add the risen yeast, 300 ml of lukewarm milk, and about 500 g of flour and knead well.

Knead the dough with a spoon or an electric mixer until it separates from the bowl and becomes silky and bubbly. If kneading with a spoon, take very small amounts of dough at a time, otherwise, the donuts will have large holes. Knead the dough in a large enough bowl so that it can rise properly later. Cover the bowl with a dry cloth and let it rise somewhere warm. When it doubles in volume, it means it has risen enough.

Roll the dough into long rolls, cut it into 30 g pieces, and shape them into balls with your hands. Place the balls at an appropriate distance on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a floured kitchen towel, and place the covered balls in a warm place, even in a slightly heated oven with the door ajar. When the donuts double in size, they are sufficiently risen.

Pour oil for frying into a wider frying pan to a depth of about three fingers and heat it very slowly to 160 degrees Celsius. The oil is suitable when bubbles form around a toothpick dipped in it, or you can also check the temperature by dropping a piece of dough into the oil, which should sink first and then rise to the surface. If it sizzles immediately on the surface, the oil is already too hot, and if the oil foams during frying, it is a sign that the oil is too cold. In this case, the donuts will absorb too much fat.

Fry the risen donuts in the same order they were shaped. Place them in the oil with the top side down; there should not be too many of them as they will still rise. Cover and fry for 3 minutes, then turn them over and leave uncovered in the oil for another three minutes.

Place the fried donuts on a paper towel, inject the desired filling into them, and sprinkle them with powdered sugar while still slightly warm.