If our soup this week is virtuous and ‘everything good for you’, Berliners are virtually everything not good for you. White flour. Refined sugar. Jam. The cholesterol-y parts of an egg. Deep-fry oil. But we say ‘what EV-er’ to the nutrition police. It’s not like we’re making and eating these every day, although there’s a thought. This is maybe not so much for health reasons but for how they are cooked because deep-frying at home can be a bloody hassle unless you own an actual domestic fryer. We don’t, and we have thoughts about how the home cook can efficiently, accurately and safely deep fry without one (see our Eternal Question column this week). And we can’t stress the ‘safely’ part enough – no one wants their house on fire or an unscheduled trip to the burns unit. Or a scheduled one, for that matter. Nope, nope and nope.

This recipe was a request from the LSC cheap seats**. “Can you do a recipe for Berliners?” they pestered, and the recipe development crew sprung into action. Even though they know some of you are scared witless of yeast, let alone deep frying. TBH, everyone at the LSC is on board with a doughnut so it wasn’t like arms needed twisting. Our all-time favourite Berliner-style doughnut is the stupendous fresh cream and home-made jam one you get at Little & Friday in Auckland. It’s a carbalicious extravaganza of a thing and if there’s a better doughnut on God’s green earth, we want to know about it. 

Berliners are, as the name suggests, German in origin, and their alternate name is krapfen. Originally they were fried in LARD and we feel the need for the bolded upper case to convey our overall excitement at the concept of anything fried in lard, let alone a doughnut. Seriously, if there were an OnlyFans account where you could pay to see lard-frying, we’d be there. This style of round, filled doughnut isn’t unique to Germany; Italy, Slovenia, Israel, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, Austria, Ukraine, Hungary et al… everyone has their version. Fillings vary, with custard a common variant and nutella popular too. In Germany, filling a random berliner with mustard, then hiding it amongst a plateful of jam-filled ones is considered a hilarious prank and all we can say to that is, you unfunny bastards. Feel free to use custard or nutella if you prefer but we say ‘meh’ to both; there’s something about the slightly acid, sweet-sour cut-through of a good raspberry jam that’s hard to beat in a doughnut but that’s personal. In South Australia, Berliners are called Kitchener buns and they’re split with a knife and crammed with jam AND whipped cream, rather like a cream bun. This approach gets the LSC seal of approval, big time. 

The most difficult part of making these is getting – and keeping – your cooking oil temperature bang on 160˚C. If it’s too too high, your doughnuts will darken before they’re cooked through; too low and they won’t cook properly at all. Fry them in batches, as crowding the pan overly lowers the temperature. We cook ours in a wok as it’s safer than a saucepan (the oil can’t easily overflow in a wok as it can in a pot), and we always use a thermometer to monitor the temperature. A cheap candy thermometer works dandily.

 ** We’re big fans of the cheap seats.

MAKES 9

185ml (¾ cup) lukewarm milk

75g (⅓ cup) caster sugar, plus extra, for rolling

2½ tsp instant yeast

3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

375g (2½ cups) plain flour

1 tsp salt

80g softened unsalted butter

1.5 litres (6 cups) vegetable oil, for deep frying, approximately

85g (¼ cup) raspberry jam

Combine the milk and a large pinch of the sugar in a bowl, then sprinkle over the yeast. Stand in a draught free place for 7-8 minutes or until foamy, then stir in the remaining sugar, egg yolks and vanilla extract and whisk to mix well.

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, then use your fingertips to rub it into the flour mixture. Add the milk mixture, stirring with a flat bladed knife until a coarse dough starts to form. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, then knead for 5-6 minutes or until a smooth, soft, elastic dough forms. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and stand in a draught free place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Knock the dough down, then divide it into 9 even sized pieces. Using your hands, roll each piece into a ball. Place on a tray, leaving room between each for spreading, cover loosely with a kitchen towel, then stand for 40-50 minutes or until risen – they will not quite double in size.

Line a large plate or a tray with several layers of kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or a wok until 160˚C on a thermometer, or until a cube of bread turns golden in 30 seconds. You might need more oil depending on the size of your pan; it should be about 6-7cm deep. Cook the doughnuts, in batches, for 8 minutes and turning once, or until deep golden and cooked through. Remove using a slotted spoon and transfer to the lined plate to drain any excess oil. Cool. 

Place the jam in a small piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Push the nozzle into the side of each doughnut and squeeze a little jam into each. Roll the doughnuts in sugar to coat. Berliners are best served on the day they’re made.