Donuts/doughnuts are popular Ghanaian snacks, made with flour, butter, milk , sugar and yeast and then cut into rings , sometimes filled with jam(marmalade) and deep fried. The taste is similar to the Puff puff, but the butter and milk in the donuts recipe, does make a big difference in the richness, texture and taste.
Doughnuts filled with jam gives a better taste, but you can omit the jam and make use of any glaze you love.
*Ingredients:*
- 480 g of plain flour
- 2.5 tablespoons of instant dry yeast/15g fresh yeast
- 5 tablespoons of warm water
- 25g of melted Butter or Margarine
- 1 large egg
- 180ml warm milk
- 50 g of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of salt
Tip: if you're using powdered milk, dissolve 2 tablespoonful of the milk in 180ml of water.
*PREPARATION*
1. In a small bowl, add the yeast, 3 tablespoonful of flour, 5 tablespoons of warm water and mix together. Cover and leave in a warm place to rise and double and begin to form small bubbles in it. Then set aside
Tip: this mixture is called a ''starter''. It shows you how active the yeast is and also kick-starts the leavening(rising) process of the dough.
2. Into another large bowl, add the remaining flour, sugar and salt. Mix well.
3. Now add the egg, warm milk, melted butter and the yeast batter(starter). Mix thoroughly for about 10 minutes, then fold the sticky dough into a rough ball & place in a greased bowl.
Cover with a clean napkin or nylon, tilt to one side and leave for about 1 hour until the dough doubles in size.
4. When the dough has risen, place on a floured table; flatten with your palms and rub a little flour on the sticky flattened dough.
You can also flatten with a rolling pin, but the first method yields fluffier donuts.
If the dough is too sticky for your liking, you can add a little flour and fold it into the dough.
5. Now using a a biscuit cutter or the wide top of a glass cup, cut the flattened dough into doughnuts rounds.
If you like you can use a syringe(without the needle) to fill the donuts with jam, you can also do this after frying the donuts.
6. If you want very large donuts, you can leave the donuts to rise for another 20 minutes before frying.
7. Heat up the oil until very hot- about 180ยบ C (you can do an oil test by dropping a little of the dough in the oil, to see how fast it will fry)
Now fry the donuts in the oil for 1 minutes on each side. Transfer into a sieve, lined with paper towels, to absorb excess oil.
8. If you desire, roll the donuts in sugar or any glaze of choice and Enjoy!
Donuts are usually enjoyed with soft drinks or local drinks like zobo or fruit juices.