Venetian fritole: A carnival treat bringing global flair
Carnival is synonymous with celebration, and in addition to classic sweets, it's worth drawing inspiration from global cuisines. The first step should be directed towards Italy, particularly Venetian treats. Fritole with raisins are an essential sweet snack for this festive time. Plus, the recipe is straightforward!
January in the kitchen is undoubtedly focused on Carnival recipes. It's worth experimenting with different options as early as January. Especially from global cuisines. A perfect example is Venetian fritole, but the possibilities don't end there.
What do we eat during Carnival?
Carnival is a time when various sweets dominate the tables. Contemporary culinary trends introduce new flavour variations—doughnuts with salted caramel or the trendy pistachio cream options from recent months are obvious competitors to rose-flavoured doughnuts. There's a time for everything, as well as for doughnuts without filling but with raisins instead. For these, you don't need cutters, and two spoons will come in handy for frying.
Recipe for fritole - Venetian doughnuts
In the adult version, you can soak the raisins in rum. To enhance the taste and aroma, you can also add lemon zest and seeds scraped from a vanilla bean to the mix.
Ingredients:
- 85 g raisins,
- 310 g plain flour,
- a pinch of salt,
- 55 g sugar,
- 2 eggs,
- 12 g fresh yeast,
- 200 ml milk,
- oil for frying,
- 3 tablespoons icing sugar.
Preparation:
- Soak raisins in hot water.
- Sift the flour into a bowl, and add salt.
- Heat the milk, but do not boil it. Crumble the yeast and add sugar. Stir and set aside for the yeast to start working.
- Drain and dry the raisins.
- Mix the flour, eggs, yeast mixture, and raisins into a uniform dough. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough for the Venetian doughnuts in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours.
- Heat the oil to around 180°C—measure this with a good kitchen thermometer.
- Prepare two spoons. Do not stir the dough; scoop portions of the dough onto one spoon, and use the other to slide it into the oil and fry until golden. About 2-3 minutes, depending on the size of the doughnuts.
- Remove the Venetian fritole with a slotted spoon onto paper towels, and after they cool slightly, coat them in sugar.
