German Donuts “Berliner” | Recipe

For the dough, heat the milk until lukewarm (!). Crumble the yeast into the milk and stir until it has dissolved.

Add 180 g of flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla paste for at least 2 minutes until creamy. Add the remaining flour and knead into a dough using the dough hooks of a hand mixer.

Now add the yeast and milk mixture and the melted butter. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth. Cover and leave to rise for another 40 minutes.

Then shape the dough into 10-15 balls of the desired size. Place the dough balls on baking paper and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rest again for approx. 20-30 minutes.

After the resting time, heat the oil in a large saucepan to a maximum of 170 °C. Alternatively, you can use a deep fryer or hot air fryer.

Place a maximum of 3-4 dough balls into the hot oil and cover with the lid. Turn after approx. 1-2 minutes and fry for another 1-2 minutes until golden brown. You may want to fry a test "Berliner" and cut it open to determine the correct frying time.

Drain the finished doughnuts on kitchen paper and leave to cool.

For variation 1, fill a piping bag with a pointed nozzle with strawberry jam. Use a wooden skewer to make small holes in the side of each donut. Fill each "Berliner" with jam.

Next, heat the egg whites and sugar in a bain-marie, stirring constantly. You should no longer be able to feel any sugar crystals between your fingers.

Then transfer the mixture to the mixing bowl of a food processor and beat for approx. 10 minutes.

Fill a piping bag with the meringue mixture and decorate the doughnuts. Then briefly flambé the tufts with a kitchen torch.

Insert the Naps into the meringue toppings. Melt the cooking chocolate in a bain-marie and garnish the "Berliner" as desired.

Alternative version 2 (without meringue): Prepare the "Berliner" in exactly the same way until you come to the filling stage. Then fill them with orange jam instead of strawberry jam.

Dip the entire top of the donuts into the melted cooking chocolate. Grate or finely chop about half of the white chocolate and use it to decorate the still-liquid glaze on the "Berliners".

Melt the remaining white chocolate in a bain-marie and drizzle it decoratively over the "Berliners".