Friday, April 23, 2010

Boules de Berlin


Ingredients: (for 12 pieces)
300g of flour
4 teaspoons of yeast (I use quick-rise)
75 ml milk
3 eggs
70g butter
90g sugar
1 Pinch of salt
Lemon zest (half lemon)
1 package vanilla pudding (or your favorite custard), or jam or dulce de leche.
Icing sugar for dusting
Cooking oil for frying(I use canola-oil)
Preparation:
Prepare vanilla pudding or your favorite custard. Keep refrigerated.
Warm the milk, and add a teaspoon of sugar. Dissolve the yeast in. Let it rise in warm room until foam is formed.
With a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar for five minutes. Add melt butter, and lemon zest. Continue with the mixer and add salt and sifted flour to the mixture. Add the yeast/milk. Knead the dough for about 6 minutes until the mixture is homogeneous (it is easier to put it on a surface with flour) and do not stick in your hands. Cover and let dough rise for one hour (it should be double in volume). On a floured surface, roll dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of one centimeter. Cut circles of 5 cm in diameter (I used a cup of tea to cut them). Place the circles in a non-stick surface until they grow like a tennis ball (60-90min).
Heat the oil over low heat in a pot or saucepan (no more than 2 cm deep). Depends on the size of your pot/saucepan, you can fry 2-3 pieces at the same time, but no more. When they get brown under, turn them. When browned at both sides remove and drain on a piece of paper towel (you will see in the middle a white line that is typical from these pastries). Let them cool.
With a sharp knife, cut each piece in the middle. Fill them with custard or your favorite jam or dulce de leche. Sprinkle with icing sugar….and Voila….enjoy them!!!
Two tips that I learned after five times making them:
1) Put oil only to cover half of the height of the balls. Thus, by turning them, you will have the “white belt” in the middle of the Berliner.
2) Use non-stick surface to let them rise the second time. Be careful when you take them out because it tends to loose the bubbles and get flatter. Do not use flour on the surface to make the process easier; otherwise, they will not rise properly (the yeast will go down)

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