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Loukoumades

Greek donuts
Print Recipe
Course Dessert
Cuisine Greek

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g AP flour (2 cups) some prefer bread flour
  • 220 g water (7/8 cup)
  • 12 g sugar (3 tsp)
  • 10 g active yeast (1 tbsp + 1/4 tsp)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract, or 1 whole scraped vanilla bean
  • 30 g oil (2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp)
  • 2 g salt (1/3 tsp)

Syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup honey "optional" but not really
  • 1 stick cinnamon

Instructions
 

  • Activate the yeast by combining the water sugar yeast and a tablespoon of flour for 10 min.
  • Once activated combine the rest of the ingredients, knead until smooth, and let it sit for up to 2 hours room temperature, covered, in a draft-free area.
  • Using a wet tablespoon, scoop out some dough, and form into a ball in a very wet hand. Some people like using 2 spoons. Make sure to wet the spoons after each ball.
  • Fry in a neutral oil, sunflower is best, canola or generic vegetable oil also work. 350F. Fry until golden brown.
  • Typically drizzled or tossed in a simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water, honey is traditional), and dusted with cinnamon.

Syrup

  • Add all ingredients to a pot.
  • Bring to a boil, stirring occasioanlly.
  • Reduce heat to med-low, and let simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Set aside and allow to cool.

Notes

  • Optional things - 1/2 tsp lemon zest, or some lemon extract, or 1 oz Grand Marnier work nicely in the dough.
  • If you don't have honey, shame on you, but you can always add some flavour extract to the simple syrup if desired, and thicken it up a bit by letting it reduce by around 1/4 the starting volume.
  • Instead of the honey syrup, you can dip the loukoumades in melted Nutella, or chocolate, or both.
  • Tossing in chopped nuts, or dusting with powdered sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, etc. are fun options.