How To Make the Ultimate Sufganiyot—Israeli Jelly Doughnuts—for Hanukkah
Make your own miracle of oil by frying up a batch of sugar-coated treats stuffed with apricot jam
November 25, 2013
Micah Siva
Micah Siva
Every baker in Israel makes jelly doughnuts, or sufganiyot, for the eight days of Hanukkah. The word sufganiyot comes from the Greek sufan (“puffed,” “fried,” and “spongy”) as well as from the Hebrew sofiget (“water”) and sofeg (“to blot”). Though traditionally sufganiyot were stuffed with jelly, today innovative Israeli bakers fill them with Nutella, lemon curd, and even foie gras.
While visiting Israel recently, I made some sufganiyot for my old friends Rafi and Liz Magnes, who live in Jaffa. Rafi waxed nostalgic about the early doughnuts he ate when he was growing up in Jerusalem in the 1950s. “The best sufganiyot were at Cafe Allenby near the center of the city,” he said. “Near the window was a huge bath of oil that was bubbling and a machine that would drop the doughnuts into the oil. There was a lady who would turn them over when they were golden. Then she would fish them out and they would dry out on paper. Afterward another machine would inject them with red jam. What was good was they were so light with a lot of sugar and so big. Everybody in Jerusalem used to buy these sufganiyot for Hanukkah. They were unreal.”
This year, the first night of Hanukkah falls the night before Thanksgiving, which also happens to be my daughter Daniela’s birthday. So we’ll feast on sufganiyot stuffed with sweet potato puree, pecan pie filling, pear or apple butter, or maybe even Speculoos spread. Make some yourself using this simple recipe, and use your imagination with the fillings.
Sufganiyot (Israeli Jelly Doughnuts)
Sufganiyot (Israeli Jelly Doughnuts)
1 package dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (about)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk (in addition to the whole egg)
Pinch of salt
Grated zest of 1 lemon
3 1/2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
1 cup of apricot jam (you can substitute strawberry or any flavorful jam, dulce de leche, Nutella, or lemon curd)
Confectioner’s or granulated sugar for rolling
1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the water, then add the milk and pour into a large bowl.
2. Add the whole egg and the yolk, salt, lemon zest, flour, the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and the butter. Mix together with your hands, then knead dough on a pastry board until it becomes sticky yet elastic.
3. Cover the dough in a bowl, and let rise in a warm place for at least an hour. If you want to prepare it ahead, place the dough in the refrigerator overnight, then let it warm to room temperature before rolling and cutting.
4. Dust a pastry board with flour. Roll the dough out to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using the top of a glass, cut into rounds about 2 inches in diameter, and let rise 30 minutes more.
5. Pour at least 2 inches of oil into a heavy pot and heat until it is about to bubble (or do as I often do in an electric wok at 375 degrees).
6. Drop the doughnuts into the oil, 4 or 5 at a time. Cook about 3 minutes on each side, turning when brown. Drain on paper towels. Using a pastry or cupcake injector (available at cooking stores and online), insert a teaspoon of jam into each doughnut. Roll the sufganiyot in confectioner’s or granulated sugar and serve immediately.
Yield: about 2 dozen doughnuts
The Recipe
Joan Nathan is Tablet Magazine’s food columnist and the author of 10 cookbooks including King Solomon’s Table: a Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World.
