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5 from 1 vote

German doughnuts (Ausgezogene Krapfen)

Learn how to make these perfectly flat, very thin in the middle and thick on the side Bavarian style doughnuts flavored with rum.
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Rising Time1 hour
Total Time2 hours 5 minutes
Course: afternoon coffee, afternoon tea, Breakfast, Brunch
Cuisine: European, German
Keyword: Ausgezogene Krapfen, Bavarian Krapfen, beignets, fried dough, German Krapfen recipe, how to, krapfen, krapfen recipe
Servings: 25 Doughnuts
Author: Ester | esterkocht.com

Equipment

  • 2 bowls
  • cooling rack
  • 2 old table cloths
  • spoon
  • large preserving jar
  • rubber ring
  • cling film
  • pot
  • Cutting board
  • kitchen machine or hand mixer (OPTIONAL)
  • plastic dust sheet

Ingredients

  • 1 kg (2.2 lbs/ 8 ¼ cups) plain flour plus extra for dusting
  • 40 g (1.4 oz ) fresh yeast/ 4 ½ teaspoons dry
    yeast
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar 
  • 2 middle eggs
  • 120 g (4 oz/ 2/3 cup) sugar
  • 100 g (3.5 oz) butter
  • 500 ml (16.9 fl.oz/ about 2 cups) milk
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 shot glass of fruit brandy of your choice (around 20 ml/ 1.3 tablespoons)
  • 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
  • 1500 g (3 lbs) clarified butter (or vegetable oil) to deep fry
  • sunflower
    oil to grease the bowl, your hands, the dough and the cling film

Instructions

  • Heat milk and butter in a pot at medium heat. Stir continuously until butter has melted. Remove from the pot from the heat and let the mil-butter mixture cool. Next combine fresh yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a bowl. Using a spoon break the yeast into small pieces, then mix well until you have a watery mixture. Leave the mixture for 10 minutes.
  • If you’re using dry yeast, add 2 tablespoons flour (from the 1 kg (2.2 lbs/ 8 1/4 cups), 1 tablespoon sugar (from the 120 g (4 oz/ 2/3 cup) and yeast to the jar with half of lukewarm milk. Stir well and let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes. Then follow the recipe.
  • Put the flour, the remaining sugar, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Make a hole in the middle, then pour in the yeast - sugar mixture in the middle. Mix well. Add the eggs, then start mixing and slowly adding the lukewarm milk - butter mixture. Finally add slowly the fruit brandy shot while the dough is busy kneading.
  • Add a tablespoon of sunflower oil and knead the dough very well. I normally knead my dough like this:
    1) If I’m kneading it with the hand mixer, I knead the dough for about 8 minutes at low speed and then for 5 minutes on medium high speed.
    2) With the kitchen machine I knead the dough for 7 minutes at low speed (speed 1, on Bosch kitchen machine) and for 3 more minutes at medium high speed (speed 3).
    3) With the hands, I knead the dough for about 10 to 12 minutes. If the dough is sticky when kneading with the hands, just oil them with few drops of vegetable oil. If you’re using a heavy duty kitchen machine, please knead your dough for maximum 7 minutes in total. Otherwise you will be overworking the dough.
  • Put the dough in the greased bowl. Pour few drops of oil on the dough,so that the dough will not dry out. Using your hands, apply the oil evenly and cover with a kitchen cloth. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.
  • In the meantime, take an old cloth, spread it out and lightly flour it. The cloth must be spread out in that way that you'll be able to cover the dough balls with it later.
    Next, oil the cutting board and your hands. Take two tablespoons of the dough and put them directly on the cutting board. Using your hand, form a smooth ball! Do not use flour, use oil!
    Put the rolled balls on the kitchen cloth. Put a drop of oil on the surface of each and every ball and massage it nicely. Repeat the process, until you have used up the dough.
    Cover with the plastic dust sheet and then with a table cloth. Let the dough balls rise for 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size.
  • Turn the preserving jar the other way round. Such that the bottom is up. Cover the bottom with a plastic film. Using a rubber ring, fasten the plastic film and oil the surface. Heat the oil in the pot and medium-low heat. Then oil your hands and take a dough ball. Using your hands pull the dough starting from the middle and going to the edges, while pulling. Next put the dough on glass, the exactly same way it was in your hands without turning it. Then keep pulling on the sides, such that the middle is thinner than the sides.
  • Take the pulled out dough ball from the glass and put it the exactly same way you have it in your hands in the fat without turning it. When you put the dough in the pot make sure that it's not wrinkled, otherwise the doughnut will loose it's form. While the doughnut is in the pot, keep pouring hot oil over it.
  • Once the bottom is nicely brown, turn it, until the other side is also golden brown. Remove the doughnut from the fat, let cool a bit on the cooling rack, until you'll be able to touch it with your hands and then move it on a table cloth. This is also very important because the table cloth removes the excess fat. Dust with icing sugar before serving sugar and enjoy!

Video

Notes

  1. It's very important that milk and butter mixture is lukewarm and not hot before usage
  2. If you're using your hands to knead the dough, just knead the dough for about 10 minutes.