Sfenj (سفنج)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Deep heavy pot or Dutch oven with 5-7cm oil depth
• •Spider skimmer or long wooden spoon handle
• •Oil thermometer, helpful

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the yeast

   Pour 380ml of the lukewarm water into a wide bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let it stand 5 to 10 minutes, until fine bubbles gather on the surface and it smells alive. If the bowl stays flat and silent, the yeast has failed and no amount of frying will rescue it. No sugar goes into the dough; sfenj rises on flour, water, salt, and patience.

2. 2

   Make slack dough

   Add the flour and salt, then mix with one hand, squeezing the dough through your fingers. Add more water, a tablespoon or two at a time, until the dough is very sticky, loose, and elastic, between bread dough and batter. It should cling to your hand and stretch in thick ribbons, not sit in a smooth ball.

   Different flours drink differently. La balance est dans les yeux (the scale is in the eyes): stop when the dough stretches and pulls back, even if you haven't used every drop of water.
3. 3

   Work it strong

   Keep the dough in the bowl. Wet one hand, lift an edge high, slap it back, fold, and repeat for 8 to 10 minutes. You are building strength in a dough too wet to knead on the table; that strength traps the gas and gives sfenj its open chew. The surface will turn glossy, and small bubbles will begin to show.

4. 4

   Let it rise

   Cover the bowl and leave it at warm room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, until doubled, jiggly, and full of bubbles. In a cool kitchen it can take longer. Do not punch it down hard; loosen the edge gently with wet fingers so you keep the air the yeast has made.

5. 5

   Heat the oil

   Pour oil into a deep heavy pot to a depth of 5 to 7cm and heat to 175-180°C. Without a thermometer, drop in a tiny piece of dough: it should rise, bubble steadily, and turn gold in about a minute. If it darkens too fast, lower the heat; if it sinks and sits oily, wait.

6. 6

   Shape the rings

   Set a bowl of water beside you. Wet both hands, pinch off an egg-sized piece of dough, pierce the center with your thumbs, and stretch it into a loose ring. Lower one edge close to the oil and let the ring slip away from you. Wet hands are the whole secret here: they let you handle the slack dough without flour, and flour would tighten the dough and burn in the oil.

   Shape close to the pot and lower the dough gently away from your body. Hot oil asks for calm hands.
7. 7

   Fry deep gold

   Fry 2 or 3 rings at a time, leaving room for them to swell. Turn with a wooden spoon handle, chopstick, or skimmer when the underside is deep gold and the edges look bubbled, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. The rings should be irregular and light, with crisp edges and a chewy center.

8. 8

   Serve at once

   Lift the sfenj to a rack or paper-lined tray and let excess oil drain for a minute, then serve at once, plain, pressed into sugar, or with honey for dipping. Do not cover them while hot or the crisp edge softens. Make enough that one extra hand can reach in.

Chef Tips

• •Do not enrich the dough. Egg, milk, butter, and sugar make another kind of doughnut; sfenj is flour, water, yeast, and salt.
• •The dough should be wetter than bread dough. When it stretches like a thick ribbon and clings to your fingers, stop adding flour.
• •Keep the oil steady. Too cool and the rings drink oil; too hot and the outside darkens before the middle has time to open.
• •Serve with mint tea, coffee, sugar, or honey. The sfenj itself stays unsweetened so each person at the table chooses.
• •If the dough over-rises and smells sharp, fold it once with wet hands and fry soon. It will still feed people, but don't make it wait all afternoon.

Advance Preparation

• •Sfenj is strongest when fried just before eating; mix the dough about 90 minutes before you want to serve.
• •For dawn frying at home, use 1 tsp instant yeast instead of 2 tsp, let the dough start 30 minutes at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate up to 12 hours. Bring it back to room temperature 45 to 60 minutes before shaping.
• •Fried sfenj can be revived in a 180°C oven for 5 minutes, but the first hot hour is the one you want.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 80g)