CookEat Recipe
Krapfen
Smooth round yeasted doughnuts filled with fruit preserve before frying and finished with icing sugar.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 200 g strong white flour, plus a little plain flour for dusting; 50 g butter; 20 g fresh baker’s yeast, not dried yeast; 80–90 ml milk for the dough, plus about 1 teaspoon for sealing; 3 egg yolks; 1 teaspoon caster sugar, about 4 g; A generous pinch of salt; 150 g thick ready-to-use fruit preserve, such as apricot jam; About 1 litre neutral frying oil, enough for the pan; 15 g icing sugar.
Step 2
Mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon taken from the 200 g flour and about 20 ml of the measured milk, just lukewarm. Cover and leave at room temperature until doubled, about 15–20 minutes. Keep the yolks and remaining milk refrigerated until needed.
Step 3
Beat the softened butter with a wooden spoon and add the yolks one at a time. Add the remaining measured flour, doubled starter, salt and sugar, then add the rest of the milk gradually, stopping while the dough is still fairly firm. Work by hand for about 10–15 minutes until it pulls cleanly away from the bowl. Dust lightly with plain flour, cover and leave at room temperature until swollen, usually about 30 minutes with this quantity of fresh yeast.
Step 4
Roll gently on a lightly floured board to about 7–8 mm thick. Use a plain round cutter about 5 cm across to cut 24 discs, gathering and rerolling scraps gently as needed. Put about 12 g thick fruit preserve in the centre of 12 discs. Moisten the clear borders with a little milk, cover with the other 12 discs and press the edges together firmly. Do not press an ornamental ring or hollow into the tops: the finished doughnuts should be smooth and round.
Step 5
Cover and let the filled pieces become visibly puffy, about 20–30 minutes. Heat the frying oil to 170°C in a deep heavy pan no more than half full. Fry a few at a time for roughly 5–7 minutes, turning once, until golden on both sides and the dough around the filling is fully cooked. Check the first one by cutting it: there must be no raw dough, and the centre should reach at least 74°C. Adjust the heat if the outside colours before the centre cooks. Drain on clean paper, let the fiercest heat subside, dust with icing sugar and serve.
Step 6
Count mixing, shaping, rising and waiting to fry within a two-hour total at room temperature once the yolks are added. If a rise takes longer, or pieces must wait for the pan, keep them covered in the refrigerator at 4°C or colder and finish the rise there; fry as soon as puffy. The stated time covers the shorter same-day schedule, and refrigerated rising adds time.
Step 7
For the cream dough, replace the 80–90 ml milk in the dough with the same amount of cream, adding it gradually to keep the dough firm. Milk is still used to seal the discs. Fresh lard may replace the frying oil, using enough to float the doughnuts and the same temperature and doneness checks.
Step 8
For pastry-cream filling, replace the fruit preserve with 150 g cold firm pastry cream. To make a small batch, whisk 1 egg yolk with 25 g sugar and 10 g cornflour, then gradually whisk in 125 ml milk. Cook in a small pan while stirring until it bubbles and thickens, then stir over gentle heat for one minute, ensuring at least 74°C. Stir in ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract. Spread in a shallow clean container and refrigerate promptly, always within two hours, until cold; allow about two extra hours for cooling. Weigh 150 g for the doughnuts and keep any remainder refrigerated for 2–3 days. Fill, seal, rise and fry as above, keeping the cream-filled pieces cold whenever waiting.
Step 9
For a double batch, double the other ingredients but use 30 g fresh yeast rather than 40 g. Keep the same thickness, filling per doughnut, short warm handling and full cooking checks; fry in batches.
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