Berliners
Berliner Pfankuchen , Faschingkrapfen
A Berliner is a soft, yeast‑raised doughnut fried until golden and filled with jam.
It’s the classic Fasching treat in Germany,
simple, sweet, and dusted with a light coat of powdered sugar
A Little Background
“In southern Germany and Austria, Berliners are often called Faschingskrapfen.
The word Krapfen goes all the way back to the Middle Ages,
when it meant a little ‘hook’ or ‘claw.’
Early festival fritters were twisted or hooked in shape,
and the name stuck even as the pastry evolved into the round,
jam-filled treat we know today.
So if the word makes English speakers smile, rest assured
— it has nothing to do with ‘crap’
and everything to do with centuries of German carnival baking.”
Prep
Procedure
Getting all the ingredients together .
1. Scald milk .
Soften yeast in water and set aside.
Does it really matter to scald the milk or not?
YES! Scalding the milk deactivates the protein which can interfere
with gluten development,
and the sometimes your bread won’t rise properly.
When my Stollen wouldn’t rise I blamed it on the yeast.
However it was because I didn’t scald the milk.
2. Put sugar, butter, and salt into a large bowl. I crumbled it up with my fingers. Pour scalded milk, while still hot, over ingredients in the bowl
3. When it’s lukewarm, add 1 C of flour and beat till smooth.
Wait until the mix is room temperature
before this next step, or you will kill the yeast.
Stir softened yeast and mix well. Measure out 2 ½ -3 C. flour. Add about half the flour to the mixture and beat till smooth.
4. Add the beaten eggs, then enough flour to make a soft dough.
5. Add the beaten eggs, then enough flour to make a soft dough.
Till you get a smooth round ball.
Oil the top, cover and raise.
6. Some places it can rise right on the counter. Where I live I usually warm the oven then shut it off.
Put in a pan of water and then the covered bowl with the dough and shut the door for a hour.
7. When the dough is doubled in bulk punch it down, turn out onto the counter and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Fill a pot with about 3 inches of oil , I use Canola, and heat the oil to 350 degrees.
You can also use a nub of dough to test it. Be careful, and don’t turn the temperture on high. Heat the oil on medium, give it plenty of time to heat up.
Roll out the dough about 1 / 4 inch and cut out 2 inch diameter circles.if you don’t have a round cookie cutter and glass works well for this.
Use your favorite jelly or jam, and put a spoonfull on one of the circles, leaving an edge around it, then put the another circle on top, and press down to seal the edges.
Pinch the edges well to make a strong seal so it doesn’t come apart during frying.
So I put these on a pan to raise, I did 3 to demonstrate. The recipe should make from 9-12 , dependeing on your circle cutter.
These took 30 -45 minutes to rise.
I heat the oil to 350 degrees, but if you don’t have a thermometer you can put a scrap of dough in the oil to see if it frys well. Caution; don’t leave the heat on high, or walk away as it can cause a fire.
Fry them on one side and flip over, and cook on the other.
Place the finished Berliner on a paper towel
An alternative way is to cook the Berliner whole and then cut a slit and fill it with a spoon
or inject it with a pastry tube with the jelly or jam. I make the dough about 1/2 inch thick,and not to big.
If it is too large it doesn’t get cooked very well inside.
Cooking them this way eliminates the chance of them separating
if the edges dont get crimped together well.
Here is the way you fill the Berliner.
Just stick the tip of the pastry tube in the center of the Berliner and fill.
There is enough empty space in there and it pushes the soft interior to make room for the nice jelly or jam.
Yumm the first bite is the best.
Or you can fill the Berliner with custard.
You can also simplify this and make square Berliners
Berliners Berliner Pfankuchen
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- 1 gallon sauce pan
- candy thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 C. milk
- 1/3 C. butter
- 1 pkg. dry yeast
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¼ C. lukewarm water
- 4 C. all-purpose flour
- ½ C. sugar
- 2 eggs well beaten
- Jelly or custard for filling
Instructions
- 1 .Scald milk .
- 2 . Soften yeast in water and set aside.
- Put sugar, butter, and salt into a large bowl.
- Pour scalded milk, while still hot, over ingredients in the bowl. When it’s lukewarm, add 1 C. flour and beat till smooth. Stir softened yeast, mix well.
- 5 . Measure out 2 ½ -3 C. flour.
- 6 . Add about half the flour to the mixture and beat till smooth.
- 7 . Add the beaten eggs, then enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead.
- 8 . Make the dough into a ball and put in a warmed, greased bowl—brush the top with oil or melted butter. Cover and let stand in warm place till doubled in bulk.
- 9 . Punch down the dough and turn out onto floured breadboard and let it “rest” for 10 minutes.
- For Berliners (Jelly Doughnuts): Cut with cookie-cutter into 3-inch rounds. Place a teaspoonful spoonful of jelly on one round, cover with another round and pinch edges together. Turn them over, smooth side up, cover and allow them to rise about 15—30 minutes. Heat oil in deep skillet, heavy saucepan, or electric fryer, to 365 o . After the rounds have risen, fry them in the deep oil, a few at a time to avoid crowding, turning with tongs when brown on the bottoms; remove and drain on paper towels.
Final Thoughts
This dish has endless creative ways it can be prepared.
I would love to see what you come up with.
Please let me know.
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