Skuinskoek (Karoo doughnuts)
MAKES 54–60 SMALL PORTIONS
Medium
30 minutes, plus 1 hour’s proving time
20–30 minutes
Skuinskoek (Afrikaans for “diagonal cake”) is one of the Boesmanland, Namaqualand and Hantam’s most prized sweet dishes. Traditionally, it was made using leftover mosbolletjie dough, which was rolled out and cut into diamonds before being deep-fried in beef tallow, thus giving it its name. Today’s recipes rarely use beef fat but oil instead. They are best enjoyed with a hot cup of coffee or tea.
Ingredients
Method
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
- 2 t instant yeast
- 200 g sugar
- 560 g cake flour, plus extra for rolling
- ½ t salt
- 2 t aniseed
- 180 g butter, at room temperature, cubed
- 3–4 cups vegetable oil
Method
Ingredients
1. In a small mixing bowl or jug, mix the water, yeast and 1 t sugar, then leave to froth for about 10 minutes.
2. Place the flour, salt and aniseed in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the remaining sugar.
3. Add the yeast mixture and mix, then knead to form a smooth, stiff dough (5–7 minutes). Cover the dough and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (45 minutes–1 hour).
4. Knock down the dough, then roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1 cm. Cut it into 2 cm-wide strips, then cut the strips diagonally into diamond-shaped portions. Cover the portions with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for another 15 minutes.
5. In the meantime, heat the oil to about 180°C in a large saucepan (or test a small piece of dough; it should sizzle, but the oil shouldn’t be smoking hot). Fry the dough in the hot oil on both sides until golden brown, then remove using a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. These are best served fresh and hot but can be eaten for up to two days after cooking.
Find more doughut recipes here
Extracted with permission from Timeless South African by Ilse van de Merwe
There are no comments yet.
