Gogoși de post (fasting doughnuts)

Name: Gogoși de post (fasting doughnuts)
Ingredients: 500 g flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons sugar; 7 g dry yeast or 25 g fresh yeast; 250 ml lukewarm water; 1 teaspoon lemon extract; 50 ml oil; 1000 ml oil for frying; 50 g powdered sugar

Dessert - Gogoși de post (fasting doughnuts) by Catrina C. - Recipia

Fasting doughnuts have an airy middle, and the flour absorbs the water gradually, so I pour it in stages. The yeast dough is rolled out to 0.5 cm thick and fried until golden, then dusted with powdered sugar. I make sure it stays slightly sticky before I work in the oil, rather than loading it up with flour. Prep: 25 minutes. Cook: 28 minutes. Rest: 75 minutes. Total time: 128 minutes. Servings: 8. Approximately 420 kcal and 7 g protein per serving.

Ingredients

500 g flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
7 g dry yeast or 25 g fresh yeast
250 ml lukewarm water
1 teaspoon lemon extract
50 ml oil
1000 ml oil for frying
50 g powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Mix the flour with the salt, sugar and dry yeast in a bowl. 2. Gradually pour in the lukewarm water and add the lemon extract. Knead for 8 minutes, then work in the oil and knead for 3 more minutes, until the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your hands. 3. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave the dough to rise for 60 minutes, until doubled in size. 4. Turn it out onto a work surface greased with a little oil, knead briefly to knock out the air and roll it out to 0.5 cm thick. Cut out the shapes and leave them on the work surface for 15 minutes. 5. Heat the frying oil in a deep saucepan for about 8 minutes, until it reaches 170°C. Fry the doughnuts in batches for 2 minutes on each side, over low to medium heat, about 20 minutes in total. They brown slowly around the edges. 6. Transfer them to paper towels and toss them in powdered sugar while still hot.

Notes

You can replace the lemon extract with 1 teaspoon of vanilla; wheat flour contains gluten, and the dough stays free of dairy and eggs. I serve them with black tea, while the powdered sugar is still sitting on top. Put them in a container and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days; once cooled, the powdered sugar gets damp and melts in places. If the water is too hot, the yeast works less well, so make sure it’s just warm to the touch. Flour can absorb liquid differently, and if the dough feels stiff, I work in another tablespoon of lukewarm water at a time. Small shapes brown before wide ones, so take them off the heat when they’re golden, rather than after the same amount of time.