I Am the Big Bad Wolf: Sufganiyot Success!!

It is now the third day of Chanukah. Chanukah is the Jewish holiday that occurs each year on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Always the same day according to the Jewish calender, even though, as followers of the Gregorian calender we are prone to saying things like "Chanukah is early this year" or "Chanukah is late this year." The holiday commemorates the rededication of the Temple that was desecrated by the Syrians during the time of the Maccabies. There was only a small amount of olive oil left to relight the menorah in the temple, but, miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days which was exactly the amount of time it took to prepare more oil for the lamp. Thus we celebrate eight days of Chanukah.

One of the ways Jews love to celebrate is by eating foods that remind us of the meaning of the holiday. Lucky for us, that means eating foods that are fried in oil. Most people know that this is the time of year when we eat latkes (potato pancakes) and nothing against a good latke, I make them myself, but there is nothing quite like eating a light and crispy jelly donut. We call them sufganiyot.
The last time I tried making my own sufganiyot it was a disaster. I'm pretty sure that I used Joan Nathan's recipe -- at least it was a recipe that I got from a Jewish cookbook. So I was hesitant to try again.

Fortunately, I found a recipe from the one maven who has yet to let me down in the kitchen: Martha Stewart. Yes, the Jewish maven herself! I followed the recipe exactly this morning, and with the exception of having to refrigerate the dough after the first rise so I could go to my appointment for learning my Torah portion for Shemot (oh, the irony!) if anything went wrong, I would have to blame Martha.

I almost gave up the project before I started because every strip of yeast I found was expired. I threw away yeast that expired as far back as 2002! Really, what this means is that I usually buy new yeast each time I bake and then just accumulate the extras, but I knew I had fresh yeast in the house from challah baking.

Here, I'll prove it. Or, rather, I'll proof it:

See the foam on top? That means the yeast is good to go.

Here I made a well in the flour before adding the yeast mixture as well as the eggs, sugar, butter and nutmeg:

(You can see how sticky the dough is in this photo).

Here is the dough after I kneeded it and before the first rise.

And here it is after rising for an hour and a half. Also, this is when I had to leave, so I put the dough in the refrigerator. I know from baking challah that dough will never overrise when it is refrigerated, so I was counting on that while I left for an hour.

The recipe didn't say to do this, but I punched the dough down and let it rest before I rolled it out. It was none the worse for wear from spending an hour in the refrigerator waiting for me to return.

Here is the dough, rolled out to about 1/4 inch thick:

Cut in 2 1/2 inch rounds:

And frying in oil. I bet you forgot that donuts are

fried didn't you?

After frying, I rolled the sufganiyot in sugar while they were still warm. They look good, don't they?

Sufganiyot are traditionally filled with jelly and even with my pastry tip, this turned out to be the most challenging part. I was out of pastry filling, so I used the jam and preserves that I had on hand from the farmer's market. Too bad all those chunks of peaches and cherries kept getting stuck in the narrow end of the tip! Still, they came out perfectly and I must say, they are delicious. Way to go Martha! You came through for me on Rosh Hashana and now on Chanukah. You are going to be my new "go to" girl for Jewish holdiay recipes if you don't watch out!