Curd cheese doughnut rings: yeast-free doughnuts, ready in an hour
Doughnuts for anyone without time for yeast: curd cheese pushed through a sieve, eggs, flour and baking powder, the dough rolled a centimetre thick and cut with two glasses. They fry for a minute and a half a side and rise in the oil rather than on the counter. An hour from opening the fridge to a plate buried in icing sugar.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Dough 15 min
- Dough resting 15 min
- Cutting 15 min
- Frying 20 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSieve the curd cheese
Push the curd cheese through a fine sieve with the back of a spoon, or mince it twice. It should be as smooth as a cream, without a single lump.
Ingredients: 250 g curd cheese (twaróg), medium fat · 2 pcs eggs · 80 g sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 300 g plain flour · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon, zest · 1 pinch salt
TipA lump of curd will not disperse in the dough or in the oil. It stays a wet spot where the ring easily splits while frying and soaks up fat. Sieving takes three minutes and decides the whole batch.
Through a sieve, smooth as creamBring together a soft dough
Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and salt to the curd and mash with a fork. Sift the flour with the baking powder, fold it in with a spatula, then knead briefly, 1 minute, only until combined. The dough should be soft and slightly tacky — and it should stay that way.
Ingredients: 250 g curd cheese (twaróg), medium fat · 2 pcs eggs · 80 g sugar · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 300 g plain flour · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 pcs lemon, zest · 1 pinch salt
TipDon't add more flour, however sticky your hands get. Extra flour turns light rings into hard discs. Flour the counter and the rolling pin, not the dough.
Soft, slightly tacky, kneaded one minuteRest for a quarter hour
Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave 15 minutes. The flour hydrates, the dough stops clinging to your hands and rolls out evenly. Put the oil on to heat meanwhile.
Roll and cut the rings
On a floured counter roll the dough to 1 cm thick. Cut discs with a larger glass (7 cm) and the centres with a smaller one (3 cm). Knead the offcuts together once and roll again. You will get about 20 rings plus as many little centres, which fry the same way.
One centimetre thick, two glassesFry a minute and a half a side
In a wide pot heat the oil to a depth of 3–4 cm to 170–175 °C. Add 4–5 rings at a time, fry 1.5 minutes until the underside is golden, turn with a slotted spoon and fry the other side 1.5 minutes. Lift onto a rack lined with paper towel. Fry in batches — with the centres, about 20 minutes in all. Break the first ring open: the middle should be dry and fluffy; if it is raw, give the rest half a minute longer a side.
Ingredients: 1500 ml rapeseed oil · 4 tbsp icing sugar
TipTemperature decides everything. Below 160 °C the dough soaks up oil before a crust can set, and the rings come out heavy and greasy. Above 185 °C the outside browns while the centre is still raw. Without a thermometer: a scrap of dough should surface within 2–3 seconds and colour in a minute and a half.
Four at a time, 170 °C, ninety seconds a sideDust with sugar and serve
Wait 5 minutes, until they stop steaming, and only then dust them thickly with icing sugar through a sieve. On hot rings the sugar dissolves into sticky syrup. Best the same day, lukewarm; the next day refresh them 3 minutes at 160 °C.
Five minutes on the rack, then icing sugar
Before you start
Why in batches
Five rings is the maximum for a 24 cm pot. Every batch of cold dough lowers the oil temperature; too many at once chill it so far that all of them soak up fat. Between batches wait for the thermometer to climb back to 170 °C.
With raisins or peel
A handful of rum-soaked raisins or 2 spoons of candied orange peel folded into the dough. Add them last so they don't tear the dough as you roll it.
Hard or greasy rings
Hard: too much flour or too long a knead. Greasy: oil too cool. These are the two commonest faults and both only show after frying, which is why the first ring is always a test.
