Sfenj (Moroccan Doughnuts)
Sfenj are Moroccan doughnuts made from a very wet yeasted dough, shaped into rings by hand and deep-fried. They are crisp outside, chewy inside, and sold hot from street stalls across the country. The dough is the whole difficulty and the whole point. It is deliberately too sticky to knead or roll, closer to a thick batter than a bread dough, and that high hydration is what produces the light, chewy, open interior. Working it with dry hands is impossible, which is why the method has you keep a bowl of water beside you and wet your hands before touching it. Adding flour to make it manageable would be the obvious mistake and would give you a dense, ordinary doughnut. The street version is worth picturing. Vendors lift the finished sfenj from the oil with skewers and thread them onto a ribbon of palm leaf so customers can carry several at once. Some ask for them flattened and returned to the oil for a second fry, which makes them crisper still. Timing matters more than most fried things. Sfenj are eaten hot; cold, they go tough and lose the contrast entirely. The source's stated oil temperature is worth following, it is more specific than most.
Morocco4 hr 30 minNympha
