Churros

The flour cooked into boiling water before anything else, which is the only reason the dough can be piped.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (cajeta), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

the dough

• 250 g plain flour
• 500 ml water
• 60 g butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt

to finish

• oil, for frying, about 6 cm depth
• 150 g caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• cajeta, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. THE FLOUR IS COOKED INTO BOILING WATER BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, and that is the only reason the dough can be piped at all. Flour tipped into a pan of boiling water and beaten hard over the heat for two or three minutes gelatinises the starch: the mixture goes from a lumpy paste to a smooth, glossy, elastic ball that pulls away from the sides of the pan. In that state it holds the ridged shape a star nozzle gives it, and it holds it in hot oil. Flour merely stirred into hot water off the heat is a slack batter that comes out of the nozzle smooth and then collapses into a sausage in the pan, and the ridges are the whole point of a churro -- they are what makes the surface area that goes crisp.
2. IT IS BEATEN UNTIL IT PULLS AWAY FROM THE SIDES AND LEAVES A FILM ON THE BASE. That is the visible signal, and it takes two or three minutes of real work with a wooden spoon over the heat. Stopped early, the starch is only part-gelatinised and the dough is too soft to hold.
3. IT IS COOLED TO LUKEWARM BEFORE PIPING AND THE BAG IS STURDY. Hot dough is soft and pipes limply, and it is genuinely difficult to squeeze -- this is a stiff dough and a thin disposable bag will split along its seam. A heavy cloth bag or a churrera, and a closed star nozzle.
4. THE RIDGES MUST BE DEEP AND THE NOZZLE IS WHAT DECIDES IT. A closed star, eight or ten points, at least a centimetre across. A round nozzle gives a smooth tube that fries into something closer to a doughnut, and a small star gives ridges too shallow to survive the oil.
5. THEY ARE CUT WITH SCISSORS STRAIGHT INTO THE OIL AND SUGARED HOT. Piped over the pan and snipped off at length, which avoids handling raw dough that would deform. And rolled in cinnamon sugar within a few seconds of coming out, while the surface is still oily -- a minute later the sugar will not stick.
6. The water, butter, sugar and salt brought to a full ROLLING BOIL in a heavy pan.
7. ALL the flour tipped in AT ONCE and beaten hard with a wooden spoon, off the heat for a moment, until it comes together.
8. Returned to a medium heat and BEATEN 2 to 3 MINUTES.
9. COOKED until the dough PULLS AWAY FROM THE SIDES in a ball and leaves a thin film on the base of the pan.
10. Tipped into a bowl and cooled to LUKEWARM, stirred now and then to let the steam out.
11. Spooned into a sturdy piping bag or churrera fitted with a CLOSED STAR nozzle at least 1 cm across.
12. The oil heated to 6 cm in a deep pan, to about 180°C -- a scrap of dough should bubble steadily and brown in a minute.
13. The dough piped DIRECTLY OVER the oil and CUT WITH SCISSORS at about 12 cm, letting each drop in.
14. Four or five at a time, fried 3 to 4 MINUTES, turned once, until deep golden and crisp.
15. Lifted onto a rack for a few seconds only.
16. ROLLED AT ONCE in the caster sugar mixed with the cinnamon, while still oily.
17. Served immediately with cajeta for dipping. They soften within 20 minutes.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes