Sfenj

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white bread flour
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 400 ml warm water
• 1 litre sunflower oil, for frying
• 100 g caster sugar, or 4 tbsp honey, to serve

Before you cook

• Whisk the yeast and sugar into the warm water and leave it for 10 minutes, until foaming.
• Oil a large bowl and set a small bowl of water beside it for wetting your hands.

Steps

1. Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle.
2. Pour the yeast liquid into the well.
3. Beat the mixture hard with your hand for 8 minutes, slapping and lifting the dough rather than kneading it.
4. Keep beating until the dough is smooth, very slack and stringy, closer to a thick batter than a bread dough.
5. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it somewhere warm for 90 minutes, until tripled and full of bubbles.
6. Punch the dough down gently with a wet hand.
7. Cover the bowl again and rest the dough for 20 minutes.
8. Pour the oil into a deep, heavy pan to a depth of 5 centimetres and heat it to 180C.
9. Wet both hands thoroughly in the bowl of water.
10. Pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a plum and let it hang from your fingers.
11. Push your thumb through the middle and stretch the hole open until the ring is about 10 centimetres across.
12. Lower the ring gently into the hot oil, away from you.
13. Fry three rings at a time for 2 minutes, until the underside is deep gold.
14. Flip each ring with tongs and fry for another 2 minutes.
15. Lift the sfenj onto a rack so the oil drains away and the crust stays crisp.
16. Re-wet your hands and shape the next batch, checking first that the oil has come back up to temperature.
17. Toss the hot sfenj in caster sugar, or dip them in warm honey, and eat them within the hour.