D is for Dinner: Sufganiyot or Israeli doughnuts

This week on D is for Dinner, Alan Neal speaks with Yitzah Kamil, a baker at the Rideau Bakery, who will talk about Sufganiyot, jelly-filled doughnuts made for Hanukkah.

D is for Dinner airs every Wednesday on CBC Radio’s All in a Day with host Alan Neal.

The classic Israeli Sufganiyah (singular of Sufganiyot), or doughnut, is filled with strawberry jelly but raspberry jelly is easiest to use, according to the Rideau Bakery.

The doughnut is deep-fried, filled with jelly or custard and then topped with powdered sugar. At Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil.

This year, the bakery used more than 300 lbs. of jam to make thousands of Sufganiyot. They are available at the Rideau Bakery all year round, same as their latkes, but they say many customers only come around the holiday season for the desserts.

Sufganiyot recipe (makes 24 doughnuts)

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. of flour.
• 3/4 lbs. of shortening.
• 3/4 lbs. of sugar.
• 10 ounces of eggs.
• 1 ounce of yeast.
• 2 ounces of salt.
• 2 lbs. of water.
• Oil.
• Powdered sugar.
• Jam (raspberry/strawberry) or Vienna cream.
• Fondant.

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl, put in 4 lbs. of flour, 3/4 lbs of shortening, 3/4 lbs of sugar, 10 ounces of eggs, one ounce of yeast, 2 ounces of salt and 2 lbs of water. 

2. Mix this for 20 minutes.

3. Take out of the bowl and set it aside to proof for 10 minutes. Roll the dough out and cut it into doughnuts.

4. Take the cut out raw doughnuts and fry them in oil until they turn a yellowish golden colour.

5. Then remove them from the oil and let the doughnut cool down before adding fondant on top, sugar on the outside and filling the inside with jam or Vienna cream.