Papanasi

• hidangan: 10 servings
• masa aktif: 45 minutes
• jumlah masa: 50 minutes

Bahan-bahan

400 g full-fat cottage cheese, well drained

300 g flour

½ sachet baking powder (1 teaspoon grated)

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

1 sachet vanilla sugar

grated lemon zest

approx. 500 ml oil for frying

sour cream

sweetener of choice

vanilla icing sugar

Arahan

How do you make the dough for papanasi?

I weighed all my ingredients and put them on hand. In a large bowl, I first put the cottage cheese.

I added whole eggs, salt, vanilla and grated lemon zest and mixed everything with a hand mixer. The mixture should be creamy and lump-free. I don't add any sugar to the mixture because it softens it and can cause the papanasi to spread in the pan.

I sifted the flour on top and added a teaspoon of baking powder.

I mixed everything by hand, without kneading it much, obtaining a soft, slightly sticky dough. It should NOT be kneaded because it hardens! (the flour develops the gluten network and we don't want that now). The flour tolerance margin is +/- 10%, meaning we can add or remove a maximum of 30 g of flour plus or minus the recipe (a tablespoon). Do not add flour carelessly because you will change the recipe!

I covered the dough with plastic wrap applied directly to its surface and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Rest and cold are good for it. The flour swells, absorbs liquids and the dough binds better.

How do you portion and shape the fried papanas?

Many people are used to breaking off pieces of dough and shaping them in their hands, first in the shape of a ball and then a circle. I find that it takes too long and that the papanas do not come out very even (even if we work with a scale). Shaping by hand can lead to thicker, thinner papanas or with uneven ring thickness. The easiest way is to cut them out with a circular doughnut shape (10-12 cm metal ring).

I lightly floured the work surface and turned the dough out onto it. I also sprinkled a little flour on top. Using a rolling pin, I rolled out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm.

Then I cut out the large circles. I got 8 pieces on the first roll. I cut them as close to each other as possible to minimize waste.

In the center, I cut out circles with a metal cutter (approx. 3 cm in diameter).

I collected all the leftover dough from around it (including the balls cut out in the middle that are too small to be fried separately), shook them off the flour on the back and compacted them. I rolled out the resulting piece of dough once more and cut out 2 smaller circles (8 cm) – to make 2 papanasi with 3 floors. From the remaining dough I shaped the balls that will be on top between my palms.

Here is what my papanasi look like, with the corresponding balls. From 850 g of dough I obtained 10 papanasi with balls (there were 8 but one fell on the floor and landed in the trash). The average is 85 g per papanasi with ball. They are more elegant and proportionate like that. It is better to eat 2 than to receive a huge monster papanasi the size of a plate.

How to fry papanasi?

Papanasi must be fried in an oil bath. I chose a deeper pan in which I put a 2-finger layer of oil. I heated it to 170 C (check with the special thermometer or with a small piece of dough). It should not smoke but it should be well heated. Its temperature will drop sharply after we put the papanas in to fry. I fried 3 papanas at a time, along with their balls. I immediately reduced the flame to medium so as not to burn the crust of the papanas. I want them to fry evenly and deeply. An insufficiently hot oil will soak them with fat and one that is too hot will prematurely burn the outside and the middle will remain raw.

The papanas swell, they grow beautifully when fried. They float in the hot fat, they do not stay on the bottom of the pan. After 2-3 minutes I turned them over. The balls turn over on their own, without help. I fried them for about 2 more minutes on the other side.

I removed the fried papanas with a slotted spoon and transferred them to a tray lined with absorbent paper towels. I continued in the same way until I had fried them all.