Bomboloni alla Crema

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups (440 g) plain flour
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) whole milk, lukewarm
• 2 tsp (7 g) instant dried yeast
• 1/4 cup (55 g) caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 5 tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter, softened
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 3/4 tsp fine salt
• 6 cups (1.4 l) sunflower oil, for frying
• 1/2 cup (110 g) caster sugar, for rolling
• 2 cups (480 ml) whole milk, for the crema
• 4 large egg yolks, for the crema
• 1/3 cup (70 g) caster sugar, for the crema
• 3 tbsp (25 g) cornflour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 strip lemon peel

Before you cook

• Warm the 3/4 cup of milk until it feels barely warm to a fingertip.
• Zest the lemon for the dough and pare a wide strip of peel for the crema.
• Cut the softened butter into small pieces.
• Line two trays with parchment and dust them lightly with flour.

Steps

1. Put the flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, yeast, salt and lemon zest into a mixer bowl.
2. Pour in the warm milk and add the eggs.
3. Knead on low speed for 4 minutes, until the dough gathers into a shaggy ball.
4. Add the butter a piece at a time, letting each one vanish before the next goes in.
5. Knead on medium speed for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic and satiny.
6. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise for 90 minutes, until doubled.
7. Warm the 2 cups of milk with the lemon peel in a saucepan until it steams.
8. Whisk the egg yolks, 1/3 cup of sugar and the cornflour together in a bowl until pale.
9. Pour the hot milk into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking hard.
10. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over medium heat, whisking, for 3 minutes until it thickens.
11. Stir in the vanilla, fish out the lemon peel and press cling film onto the surface.
12. Chill the crema until cold, about 1 hour.
13. Roll the risen dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of half an inch.
14. Stamp out 10 rounds with a 3-inch cutter and set them on the lined trays.
15. Cover the trays loosely and prove for 45 minutes, until light and puffy.
16. Heat the oil in a deep pan to 340F / 170C.
17. Lower three bomboloni into the oil at a time, laying the risen side down first.
18. Fry for 90 seconds, then flip them and fry for another 90 seconds.
19. Lift them out when they are deep gold with a pale band around the equator.
20. Drain the bomboloni briefly on a rack, then roll them in the sugar while hot.
21. Whisk the cold crema smooth and load it into a piping bag with a narrow nozzle.
22. Poke the nozzle into the pale band of each bombolone and pipe until it feels heavy.
23. Serve within the hour, ideally with a cappuccino.