Sofia's Kitchen - Greek Doughnuts (Tsirihta- Pontian)

Here we are again, for installment #2 of Sofia's Kitchen.

The first half of the day we made delicious, crispy doughnuts with a fluffy doughy center soaked in a lovely sweet syrup. You can play around with the syrup, perhaps a rosewater syrup with a sprinkling of pistachios, or even perhaps skip the syrup altogether and just roll them in a cinnamon sugar. Sometimes we also add a sprinkling of walnuts and cinnamon. A word of warning; these are addictive, ask my husband who scoffed down five whilst I had me head turned.

Tsirihta (Greek Doughnuts)
makes around 30

2 cups plain flour
1 tbs dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 ¾ cup water
olive oil - for deep frying
sesame seeds – dry roasted

SYRUP:
200g honey
½ cup sugar
2 cups water

Place all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix to combine. Gradually add the water to mixture and whisk to make a smooth batter. Batter should be slippery but cohesive. Cover bowl with glad wrap and place in the sink filled half way up the bowl with hot water. The heat will help the batter rise. Once batter has risen to double its original size, re whisk to combine all ingredients.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Make sure oil is hot. Dip tablespoon in a cup of oil (to avoid batter from sticking to spoon) and scoop a portion of the batter and drop into hot oil. Continue this process allowing enough room in the pan for them to float around without sticking together. Turn donuts over once golden brown. Remove with a perforated spoon when golden brown on both sides and place into a bowl with paper towel to absorb the oil.

Make syrup by adding all ingredients into a pot and boil till sugar has dissolved and mixture has thickened slightly. Make sure syrup isn’t too watery as will not stick to the donuts properly. Drop the cooled donuts into the hot syrup mixture 3-4 at a time and toss around to coat all sides. Remove and place onto the serving dish. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and ENJOY!