Austrian fried doughnuts are called “Krapfen”

At the beginning of the new year im always in a foul mood. Everything is beginning anew, my favorite season (Christmas) ist finally over and I just can’t get myself to pick me up and heave me out of that depressing hole. But when the first bakeries start to fill their sales counters with “Krapfen” , my hubby knows what to do. Buying me had dozen and leave me alone until I feel better and high on sugar .

Krapfen are my favorite kind of treat . They are most popular during the carnival season but mostly you get them at the bakeries almost all year round. “Krapfen” are our kind of fried doughnuts. It’s an enriched dough classically fried to golden perfection and filled with apricot jam. Of course most bakeries serve them filled with vanilla or chocolate cream too but for us Austrians the classically fried doughnut filled with apricot jam and sprinkled with powdered sugar will always have a special spot in our hearts.

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Cointreau and orange zest – Gather the ingredients.

To make this delicious Austrian Fried Doughnut recipe, you will need the following ingredients: 500g all-purpose flour, 8g active dry yeast, 50g sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, 300ml warm milk, 25g butter melted, 3 egg yolks, 1tbsp cointreau, zest from 1 orange and oil for deep-frying. You will also need about 300g of fine apricot jam and confectioners’ sugar for powdering them on top before serving.

Yes you read right! Cointreau and orange zest adds that special something to these treats.

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Mix the Dough and Knead.

Start by mixing the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a bowl of your stand mixer with the hook attached. Gradually add the warm milk, egg yolks and butter to the dry ingredients while mixing continuously in your stand mixer. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (10 minutes). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for an hour or until doubled in size.

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Let the dough rest & bake.

Once the dough has risen and doubled in size, turn it out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 2cm (3/4-inch) thickness. Cut into about 7 to 8cm large (this is about 2 3/4 inch) circles using a cookie cutter or drinking glass rim. Place the doughnuts on a greased baking sheet and let them rest for another 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium sized heavy bottom pan over medium heat until it reaches 180 °C (360°F) . Carefully place the doughnuts into the hot oil, allowing enough room for them to expand while cooking. Fry them for 2-3 minutes per side with the lid on. flip the dougnuts with tongs once they are golden brown. Remove from oil with a spider strainer and drain on paper towel. Let them cool on a cooling rack.

Fill the doughnuts with delicious apricot jam

Once the doughnuts are cooked, remove them from the oil and let cool slightly on a rack. For a delicious finish, fill them with warm apricot jam using a piping bag and a donut tip ! This will give them a tangy sweet flavour that takes this fried treat to the next level. Enjoy with lots of powdered sugar on top for the authentic Austrian experience.

Make them healthier – try the oven baked version instead!

For a healthier option, try baking the doughnuts in the oven instead of frying them. Preheat your oven to 170°C Fan (340° F). Brush the doughnuts with melted butter and bake for 14-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. As the oven baked doughnuts won’t be as crispy as fried ones, brush them with butter again when they are freshly out of the oven and dust them with powdered sugar. Dont forget to powder them with powdered sugar on top again when cooled– they’ll still taste delicious and extremely fluffy!

What is important when making these Austrian style fried doughnuts.

• Make sure that the milk is warm and not hot. The heat will destroy the activity of the yeast otherwise.
• The egg yolks have to be at room temperature.
• Give the dough time to rise!
• Use a kitchen thermometer to observe the temperature of the frying oil. The oil shouldn’t be hotter than 180°C
• Be careful when working with hot oil.
• Use fine mashed apricot jam. No jam with pieces because how will you press the fruit pieces through the tip?!?
• Let the freshly fried doughnuts drip off on some kitchen towel.

Of course you can fill these “Krapfen” any way you want. Vanilla pudding or a chocolate cream make great fillings too but for us Austrians there is no better filling than simply delicious apricot jam. I’m confident that you and your family will fall in love with this doughnut recipe immediately .

Be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from yo guys and always to my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag us on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite .

Warm sticky hugs, Nina

If you are in need of some non fried yeasty recipes, here are some of my favorite:

• The most delicious healthy banana pumpkin bread ever.
• Homemade Mother’s Day gifts: brioche hearts
• Apple galette with honey whiskey frangipane
• Easy Victoria sponge cake recipe
• No-bake white chocolate berry cake

An Authentic Austrian Fried Doughnut recipe

4 from 42 votes

Recipe by Nina Course: DessertCuisine: American, austrian

Servings

14

doughnuts

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Calories

234

kcal

resting time

1

hour 

15

minutes

Total time

2

hours 

5

minutes

Enjoy a delicious taste of Austrian cuisine with this easy-to-follow recipe for Austrian Fried Doughnuts! These light and fluffy doughnuts are filled with fine apricot jam goodness, and they make a great snack or dessert any time.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• 500 g 500 flour all purpose is fine , bread flour is fine too

• 8 g 8 dry yeast

• 1 pinch 1 salt

• 50 g 50 sugar

• 1 tbsp 1 orange zest Zest of 1 orange

• 1 tbsp 1 Cointreau or peach tree

• 30 g 30 butter melted

• 300 ml 300 milk warm

• 3 3 egg yolks

• oil for frying

• 250 g 250 apricot jam fine, no fruit pieces

Directions

• I a bowl of your stand mixer attached with the hook add all the dry ingredients and the orange zest and mix.
• Gradually add the warm milk, egg yolks and butter to the dry ingredients while mixing continuously in your stand mixer.
• Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (10 minutes). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for an hour or until doubled in size. 
• Once the dough has risen and doubled in size, turn it out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 2cm (3/4-inch) thickness. 
• Cut into about 7 to 8cm large (this is about 2 3/4 inch) circles using a cookie cutter or drinking glass rim. Place the doughnuts on a greased baking sheet and let them rest for another 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium sized heavy bottom pan over medium heat until it reaches 180 °C (360°F) . 
• Carefully place the doughnuts into the hot oil, allowing enough room for them to expand while cooking. Fry them for 2-3 minutes per side with the lid on
• Flip the dougnuts with tongs once they are golden brown. Remove from oil with a spider strainer and drain on paper towel. Let them cool on a cooling rack.
• The the doughnuts aren't hot analoger to the touch fill them with apricot jam in using a piping bag and a donut tip.
• Don't forget to sprinkle them with powdered sugar before serving. Enjoy!

Notes

• Oven Baked Doughnuts- An  Healthier Option
• For a healthier option, try baking the doughnuts in the oven instead of frying them. Preheat your oven to 170°C Fan (340° F). Brush the doughnuts with melted butter and bake for 14-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. As the oven baked doughnuts won’t be as crispy as fried ones, brush them with butter again when they are freshly out of the oven and dust them with powdered sugar. Dont forget to powder them with powdered sugar on top again when cooled– they’ll still taste delicious and extremely fluffy!

Nutrition Facts

• Calories: 234kcal
• Carbohydrates: 44g
• Protein: 5g
• Fat: 4g
• Saturated Fat: 2g
• Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g
• Monounsaturated Fat: 1g
• Trans Fat: 0.1g
• Cholesterol: 49mg
• Sodium: 35mg
• Potassium: 97mg
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 13g
• Vitamin A: 183IU
• Vitamin C: 2mg
• Calcium: 43mg
• Iron: 2mg

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The post Krapfen: An Authentic Austrian Fried Doughnut Recipe appeared first on Two Sisters Living Life.

This post is dedicated to my favourite Easter sweet bread. The Pinze! The Pinze is a traditional Austrian milk bread recipe or better said a brioche dough recipe. What makes this brioche dough unique is the aniseeds flavour. I made these Easterly loafs with the tangzhong method which makes this sweet bread extra fluffy and soft. These Pinzen can’t be missed on any Easter brunch table.

The Pinze is my favourite Easter pastry in the world. Every year I’m looking forward with excitement for spring season to begin. because I know I’ll get these fluffy buttery brioche breads with their unique taste in every bakery in Austria. The only problem there is with Pinzen is that not every bakery makes them right. Most bake them to try. That’s why I developed this recipe. The Pinzen have their unique aniseeds flavour but are fluffy, soft and juicy.

The Pinze- a traditional Austrian Easter milk bread recipe

It all start with aniseeds.

The uniqueness of a Pinze is her flavour. And the flavour comes from aniseeds which get soaked in warm white wine overnight. That’s my first step which I prepare the day before starting with the original process of baking.

• I heat 120ml of white wine in the microwave for 30-40 seconds and mix the wine with 1 1/2 tsp of aniseeds.
• I let the seeds soak overnight.
• In the morning I strain the wine. I discard the seeds but I keep the flavoured wine .

The tangzhong method.

After straining the whine I mix the wine together with the milk and a small part of the flour and bring everything to a boil and begins to thicken to a slurry. Don’t forget to constantly stir everything. This is called a tangzhong. The tangzhong or water roux is a mixture of both liquid and flour that you stir and cook until the starches in the flour gelatinize and the mixture thickens.That way the starches can hold twice as much liquid than a normal yeast dough.

Not only does the starch in the flour absorb more liquid; since heating the starch with water creates structure, it’s able to hold onto that extra liquid throughout the kneading, baking, and cooling processes.

The advantages:

• Since there’s less free (unabsorbed) water in the dough, it’s less sticky and easier to knead
• The bread or rolls may rise higher, due to more water creating more internal steam (which makes bread rise in the oven — along with the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast)
•  Having retained more water during baking, bread and rolls will be moister, and will stay soft and fresh longer

The dough itself.

• At first I pour the tangzhong into the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attached, and let it cool slightly.
• Secondly I added the rest of the dough ingredients to the bowl and start kneading it on low for 5 minutes.
• When the dough comes together I increase the speed to medium. I let it knead for another 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and won’t stick any longer to the side of the bowl.
• At last I cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until double in size at a warm place.

The rising of the dough.

After the brioche dough has risen for the first time I knead it for a couple of minutes and let it rise again until doubled. I repeat the kneading and rising process 4 times. Every rising will take shorter than the last one. Through this process the pores of my milk bread will get finer and smaller which is another characteristic feature of a Pinze.

The shaping and cutting.

After I deflated the brioche dough for the last time i cut the dough into 10 equal heavy parts. But you can also leave half the dough whole for one big loaf and only cut the other half into 5 equal parts.

The shaping.

I take every dough piece and start pulling the outer sides into the middle where i pinch them together. I do that for 2-3 times until the dough got some tension and is already shaped like a ball. After that I put the dough on the counter and bend my fingers around the dough ball and start circling it inside of my hand until its perfectly round in shape. Repeat this with every dough piece. Put the dough balls on a baking tray covered with baking sheet.Leave enough space between the doughs. I wouldn’t recommend more than 5 Pinzen on a baking tray. Let it rise one final time. Give them enough time to double in size. After that brush them with the egg wash.

The Cut – which makes The Pinze inimitable

You need for the 3 parts cut a scissors. I put one tip of the scissors upright about 1/3 deep into the dough and cut 3 times from the inside to the outside into the dough.

After giving every Pinze their signature cut, bake them in the preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes. depending on how the size and colouring is.

Make sure to give my favourite kind of brioche recipe a try. You won’t be disappointed . Promised ! However I love to bake the milk bread for Sunday mornings. I often prepare it the day before and let the formed dough balls rise in the fridge overnight. Brushing and Cutting them in the morning.

These fluffy goodnesses are best enjoyed with my delicious recipe for a decadent Vanilla and Rosemary flavoured Orange Jam. Make sure to check out the recipe.

Tag us on Instagram and Facebook @twosisterslivinglife or #twosisterslivinglife so that we can see what you created and pin our recipes for later. Pinterest we love you.

Sweet and fluffy hugs, yours truly Nina

The Pinze – an Austrian Easter milk bread recipe

5 from 68 votes

Recipe by Nina Course: Breakfast, brunchCuisine: austrian

Servings

10

small loafs

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Calories

335

kcal

resting time

3

hours 

This is a traditional Austrian Easter Recipe for a Pinze which is a fluffy slightly sweet and buttery milk bread with an Anis seed flavor. This milk bread cant be missed on any Easter brunch.

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• For the Tangzhong

• 60 g 60 all purpose flour

• 120 ml 120 milk

• 140 ml 140 white wine

• 1,5 tsp 1,5 aniseed

• For the dough

• 440 g 440 all purpose flour

• 1 packet 1 dry yeast about 8g or 20g fresh yeast

• 80 g 80 sugar

• 1/4 tsp 1/4 salt

• 1 tsp 1 vanilla sugar

• peel of 2 oranges

• 90 g 90 butter slightly melted

• 3 3 egg yolks large at room temperature

• For the egg wash

• 2 2 egg yolks

• 1 tbsp 1 cream

Directions

• The night before mix together the white wine and the aniseeds. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds and let them soak overnight.

  • 

• For the Tangzhong
• Mix togehter the strained white wine, milk and flour in a pan with a whisk.
• Start heading the mixture under constant stiring until it start bubling and thickens. Turn off the heat and stir everything until its homogenous and came together to a slurry.

  • 

• Put the slurry into the bowl of stand mixer and let it cool slightly.
• For the dough
• Add to the tangzhong (slurry) all the ingredients of the dough and start mixing wtih a hook.
• Start kneading the dough on slow for about 5 minutes.
• Then increase speed to medium and knead for another 10 minutes. The dough is ready when it doesnt stick anylonger to the side of the bowls.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at a warm place until double in size. This will take about one hour.
• When the dough is double in size knead it for about 5 minutes, cover it again and let it rise again until double in size.repeat the kneading and rising for 2 more times. Every next rising will need less time.
• After the 4th rising knead the dough one more time and cut the dough into 2 eaqual parts.Cut every half into another 4 equal part so that you will have 8 small Pinzen or leave one half for one big Pinze and cut onply the other half into 4 small parts.
• Now take every dough piece and pul the outer sides into the the middle 2-3 times. and pinch togehter. Then put the dough with the seam down on the woriking surface. cover the round dough piece with your hand. Fingers are crooked slightly to cover the dough ball and now start rolling the dough until round. Place it on a baking tray with a baking sheet on it. Repeat this process with every dough piece.
• When all the dough pieces are formed cover them and and let them rise one final time until double in size.
• When the dough balls are double in size put the egg wash on top.
• Cut them from the middle to the outer sides 3 times. It should be a deep cut.

  • 

• Put a baking tray filled with water on the bottom of your oven and preheat the oven to 210°C or 410°F.
• Bake The smaller Pinzen loafs for about 15-20 minutes ore until they are a darker golden brown.Larger Loafs bake for about 20-25 minutes. Or a darker golden brown.
• Take loafs out of the oven and let them cool completely .Enjoy<3

Nutrition Facts

• Calories: 335kcal
• Carbohydrates: 48g
• Protein: 7g
• Fat: 11g
• Saturated Fat: 6g
• Cholesterol: 120mg
• Sodium: 135mg
• Potassium: 100mg
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 9g
• Vitamin A: 396IU
• Calcium: 37mg
• Iron: 3mg

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Tag @twosisterslivinglife on Instagram and hashtag it with

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The post The Pinze – a traditional Austrian milk bread recipe appeared first on Two Sisters Living Life.