Bauernkrapfen - Farmer's Doughnuts

Sift flour onto a worktop and make a little hollow in the centre. For the “Dampferl” put yeast into a cup, mix with sugar and milk and pour it into the flour hollow. Stir carefully while making sure that the flour edge remains unchanged; then cover it with a cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes. If it creates bubbles it is a good sign that the yeast is active. Mix in the remaining ingredients and work into a smooth, soft dough.

The dough is ready when it starts to create bubbles and separate from the bowl’s side. Rum prevents the doughnuts from saturating with fat. Cover the dough with a cloth again and let it rest at room temperature for 60 minutes. The volume should double.

Take the risen dough from the bowl and portion it so that you get dough balls of equal size. Put them onto a floured cloth and cover them. Let them rest again until the volume has once again doubled.

In the meantime put clarified butter into a large, wide pan and heat to 160 degrees. The clarified butter should have a depth of 3 centimetres. To test if the clarified butter is hot enough, put the end of the wooden spoon into the butter. If you see bubbles around the edges of the spoon you can start frying.

Now shape the balls into standard doughnut form making sure that each one has a dough edge. Let the doughnuts dive into the clarified butter with the hollow upside down. Caution hot! Fry the doughnuts swimming and drizzle the tops with the hot fat using the wooden spoon. The doughnuts’ edges should rise rapidly. Turn doughnuts as soon as they have got a nice crispy brown colour. Take them out and let them drain on kitchen paper.

The doughnuts can be served sweet with cranberry jam and icing sugar, but also savoury with sauerkraut.