Two weeks from now on March 5th is Ash Wednesday, the last day of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans and the Carnival celebrations in Brazil. It's the last hoo-rah before the purported deprivation of Lent sets in.
Of course, Carneval is celebrated in European locations as well, including here in Germany. The biggest parties, parades and fireworks in this country are held mainly in Cologne, Dusseldorf and Mainz, where they call it Karneval. But many other areas celebrate, too, including here in the Munich area where they call it Fasching. Click here for a post I did about the parade up in Bamberg two years ago.
In every single bakery this time of year you'll see the traditional Faschingskrapfen pastries:
Some bakeries even drag out their auxiliary holiday huts they use at Christmas and Easter as well:
Let's deconstruct the word Faschingskrapfen here. This is a normal German word composed of two other words stuck together - Faschings and Krapfen. Obviously, Faschings is a modifier that tells you this pastry is made in honor of the celebrations. The Krapfen part is actually the German word for a filled donut. FYI, donuts with holes in Germany are called "donuts" and are considered to be American.
Another word for Krapfen is Berliner, made internationally famous by JFK. When he said, "Ich bin ein Berliner," it ostensibly translates as, "I am a filled donut." Those who translate it this way claim that he should have said, "Ich bin Berliner," without the ein. However, some linguists dispute this translation. Whatever the argument, I think the crowd was hip to his meaning at the time.
Legend has it that a Viennese chef named Cäcilie Krapf (Cilli for short) invented them, although I've found sources that claim they were invented in Germany and other places. Ms. Krapf's version of this donut was called Cilli's Balls in the early days!
So this year as I am working on my travel/recipe book that contains German family recipes, I tested the recipe I have for Faschingskrapfen given to me by my wonderful German "mom" Hilde. Boy, I didn't know what I was getting into! Three batches of donuts and a huge kitchen mess later, I finally nailed it!
I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, but I suspect it's due to three factors: 1) my iffy history with yeast dough; 2) kitchens in Germany are somewhat colder than kitchens in Florida where I'd been cooking for 20 years; and 3) the fact that Hilde often adds things and tweaks the recipe without telling me when I'm not looking. It didn't help that the recipe I copied from her recipe book had no directions, only ingredients. So my starting point was the description in my journal of what Hilde did that day. No telling what I missed.
The recipe below makes mention of an alcohol called Arak. I did some research and it seems to originate in the Middle East and is made from palm sugar. However, there are many spellings, including Arrak and Arrac, and some spellings are actually different things. Since Hilde used something completely different and calls almost every alcoholic flavoring she uses in baking "rum," I faked it and bought a bottle of something called Batavia Arrac Verschnitt.
You can see it in the photo of my ingredients below. I figured since it was in the baking aisle at the supermarket it was probably ok to use. It was. But I ran out of it by the third batch anyway and fortunately had found a bottle of Myers Rum at the same supermarket. So I used that.
The best part of making the Krapfen for me was my awesome new WMF digital kitchen scales you can see in the photo above. I got it at my new mecca, Kustermann's in Munich just off Marienplatz. That store has EVERYTHING, even American All-Clad cookware and Lodge cast iron! I sit around thinking up excuses to go there.
By the way, no one should be measuring flour with a measuring cup anymore. Since humidity and fluffiness of the flour affect how much is actually in a cup, weigh it instead.
Anyway, here is the recipe I found success with, which is a combination of Hilde's and those of a couple of awesome onliners plus some experimentation:
German Faschingskrapfen
4 teaspoons dry yeast (8g)1/4 cup milk, lukewarm (60ml)
1/4 cup sugar (60g)
16 ounces flour (450g)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (1 packet or 8g) or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter, melted (40g)
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons Arak or rum
1/2 teaspoon lemon oil (2.5ml) or zest of one lemon
powdered sugar and/or granulated sugar
rose hip jam
Proof the yeast by combining it with the lukewarm milk and about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mix well and place in a warm spot for 20 minutes. The yeast should become active and foam up, becoming what is called a sponge.
While the yeast is doing its thing, combine the rest of the ingredients and whip til fluffy.
Combine the yeast sponge with the flour and mix up a little. Add the egg mixture and mix well. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes or use a mixer with dough hooks for 5 minutes.
Form a ball with the dough and leave it in the bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place (about 85 degrees F) to rise for 20 minutes. Since my kitchen is so cold, I warmed the oven to 85 degrees F (30 C) and placed the dough in there.
Punch the dough down and knead by hand on floured board for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with more flour and work it in by increments if dough sticks to your hand. Add milk by tablespoons if the dough is too dry and hard to knead.
Form a ball and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with the towel and return to the warm spot for 60 minutes to rise a second time.
Turn the dough onto a floured board and punch down again.
Now there are two ways to proceed. One is Hilde's way, which is to form balls with the dough that are about 2 inches in diameter. Roll the balls between your palms to eliminate any seams or folds. Seams and folds "bloom" in the oil and result in a misshapen Krapfen.
The other way is to press the dough into a flat sheet about 1/2 inch thick. Let it rest for about 10 minutes then use a cookie cutter or rim of a drinking glass to cut 4-inch disks. Reform leftover dough into a flat sheet and cut more disks until most of the dough is used up.
Whether you form ball or disks, place the dough shapes on greased and floured sheets. Cover the dough with the kitchen towel and return to the warm place for another 30 minutes.
Meanwhile bring a pot with 2-3 inches of oil, shortening or lard (old school, German style) to 338 degrees F (170 C). Carefully remove a ball or disk, whatever you decided, turn it over and place gently into the oil, bottom up.
Fry 1-2 minutes then turn the donuts over and fry an equal amount of time on the other side. Properly risen dough should be so light that the donuts float, resulting in a white band around the middle. No white band means dense, overcooked donuts. Believe me, I know.
Remove from oil to a plate lined with paper towels.
There are two ways to glaze the Krapfen: with either granulated or powdered sugar. Everyone seems to have their favorite. In fact, I found a couple of sites online where people were arguing over whether granulated or powdered was better. I like them both.
If you want to use granulated sugar, roll the still-warm Krapfen in a plate of sugar. If you want to use powdered sugar, wait until after you fill them.
Load a baking syringe with rose hip jam and inject each donut with about 2 teaspoons of the sweet stuff. (That's my new baking syringe in the photo below, also from Kustermann's.)
Sprinkle with powdered sugar on both sides if you waited for that. Hilde gave me her mother's powdered sugar shaker, which you can see me using here on one of the experimental batches of donuts I made (no white bands):
The Krapfen are done! Now brew up a pot of strong black coffee and knock yourself out on luscious, warm goodies! For contrast, here is another plate of the experimental ones I made before I made friends with yeast:
BUT! Here is my plate of Krapfen done Hilde's way by forming balls with the dough before the last rise:
And here is my plate of Krapfen made from disks:
Now that I'm on a sugar high, I'll wish you fun Fasching celebrations in your own 'hood. I'll be back next Wednesday with some more travel and food tidbits. Thanks for reading!
Photo for No Apparent Reason:
source : http://hipwee.com, http://wikipedia.org, http://komnatachista.blogspot.com
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