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Sfenj (Moroccan doughnut rings)
Sfenj: light, chewy yeasted doughnut rings fried at dawn and dusted with sugar
Early in the morning, in medina lanes from Fez to Casablanca, the sfenji pulls handfuls of sticky dough from a bowl, pokes a hole through each with his thumb and drops the rings into a big pan of oil, where they puff into crisp, golden, irregular doughnuts with a chewy, airy inside. Customers carry them away threaded on a strip of palm leaf, to eat hot with mint tea or coffee, plain, dusted with sugar or dipped in honey. The dough is just flour, yeast, salt and water, and deliberately very wet; that is what gives the open, holey crumb. Allow about 1 1/2 hours for it to rise. Where sfenj go wrong is a dough that is too stiff; it should be sticky and slack, or the rings come out bready instead of open and chewy. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water beside you and wet your hands before every piece, so the sticky dough slides off your fingers instead of clinging to them.
- Total time
- 130 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
To serve
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What you'll need
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Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Mix 1 ⅛ lb plain flour, ¼ oz fast-action dried yeast, 1 tsp sugar and 1 ½ tsp salt in a large bowl. Pour in 1 ¾ cups lukewarm water and beat with your hand or a wooden spoon into a very soft, sticky dough.
Step 2: Keep beating, slapping and stretching the dough in the bowl until it becomes smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides in long strands. It will still be too sticky to knead on a board, which is right.
10 minStep 3: Cover with cling film and a tea towel and leave in a warm place until more than doubled and full of bubbles.
90 minStep 4: Heat 6 ¼ cups vegetable oil in a wide, deep pan to 175–350°F; a cube of bread should turn golden in about 40 seconds. Oil that is too cool makes greasy, heavy sfenj, and oil that is too hot browns them before the inside is cooked, so check the temperature between batches.
10 minStep 5: Wet your hands, pinch off an egg-sized piece of dough, push your thumb through the middle and stretch it into a rough ring about 10 cm across. Lower it straight into the oil. Fry 3–4 at a time.
Step 6: Fry, turning once with a skewer, until puffed and deep golden on both sides and they sound hollow when tapped.
3 minStep 7: Drain on a rack over kitchen paper. Eat while hot, sprinkled with 4 tbsp caster or icing sugar, with mint tea. (Many people dip them in warm honey too, but then they are no longer vegan.)
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 62 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sfenj (Moroccan doughnut rings) take?
- About 130 minutes in total: 100 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
- What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?
- Fresh yeast, three times the weight.
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