Loukoumades
The batter for loukoumades is as loose as thick pancake batter, and that is not a mistake — it cannot be kneaded or rolled, it is squeezed through a fist. That looseness is the point: the ball is light and holey as a sponge inside, wrapped in a thin shell, so it drinks the syrup rather than merely carrying it. A stiff dough would give a heavy doughnut.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Batter 15 min
- Rising (make the syrup meanwhile) 70 min
- Frying 25 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneWhisk a loose batter
Whisk the flour, starch, yeast, sugar and salt into the warm water until not a single lump remains. The batter has the consistency of thick cream, not a ball of dough. The potato starch is there so the shell stays crisp for longer after frying.
Ingredients: 320 g plain flour · 320 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt · 2 tbsp potato starch
Rise until the surface bubbles
Cover and leave for 70 minutes, until the surface is covered in bubbles, the batter has visibly grown and smells yeasty. You will know it is ready when a stir with a spoon makes it visibly collapse as the air bubbles escape.
Ingredients: 320 g plain flour · 320 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt · 2 tbsp potato starch
The whole surface in bubbles — ready to fry.Boil the syrup and cool it
Best done while the batter rises, so the syrup has time to cool: boil the honey with the water, cinnamon stick and lemon juice for 5 minutes and leave to cool. As with baklava: cold syrup onto hot pastry. Hot syrup on hot balls quickly softens the shell and it loses its crunch.
Ingredients: 250 g honey · 80 ml water · ½ pcs lemon · 1 pcs cinnamon stick
Squeeze balls through your fist
Take batter in your hand and squeeze it through your fist, scooping the emerging ball straight into the oil with a wet teaspoon. Dip the spoon in water between each — a dry one sticks and the ball comes out oval instead of round.
Ingredients: 320 g plain flour · 320 ml water · 7 g dried yeast · 1 tbsp sugar · 1 tsp salt · 2 tbsp potato starch
Batter through the fist, a wet spoon scoops it off.Fry at 170°C to deep gold
Fry in batches of a dozen or so in oil at 170°C, about 3 minutes per batch, turning with a slotted spoon — around 20–25 minutes in all. They sink first, then rise and start turning themselves. Do not crowd the pan — a drop in oil temperature gives greasy, pale loukoumades.
Ingredients: 1000 ml oil · 80 g walnuts · 1 tsp cinnamon
They rise and turn by themselves — the oil is right.Drench them straight from the oil
Drain briefly on paper and tip them straight into the bowl of cold syrup, tossing for 20 seconds. A hot ball draws syrup into its centre; a cooled one is merely coated on the outside. Scatter with walnuts and cinnamon and serve at once.
Ingredients: 1000 ml oil · 80 g walnuts · 1 tsp cinnamon
Before you start
Eat within a quarter of an hour
Loukoumades exist for fifteen minutes. After that the shell softens under the syrup and what is left is sweet but ordinary. That is why Greek shops usually fry them to order rather than in advance.
The honey matters
Greek thyme honey is intense, herbal and faintly bitter, which balances the sweetness. A generic blossom honey is simply sweet — add an extra tablespoon of lemon juice to the syrup in that case.
Instead of walnuts
Sesame, pistachios or grated dark chocolate. You can also add a strip of orange peel to the syrup — honey and orange go beautifully together.
