Bambalouni

A hole is pushed through with the thumb and widened by spinning it on the finger, so the ring is thin and uneven.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains honey.

Ingredients

the dough

• 500 g plain flour
• 320 ml warm water
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 8 g salt
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

to fry and finish

• 1 litre sunflower oil
• 200 g caster sugar
• or 200 g honey

Method

1. A HOLE IS PUSHED THROUGH WITH THE THUMB AND WIDENED BY SPINNING IT ON THE FINGER, so the ring is thin and uneven. Not cut with a cutter. A ball of slack dough is taken up, a thumb pushed through the middle, and then the ring is hung on two fingers and spun or swung so its own weight stretches it -- which leaves a ring that is thin and almost translucent at the inner edge and thicker at the rim. In the oil those two thicknesses cook differently: the thin part goes crisp and blistered and the rim stays soft and bready, so each bite has both. A cutter gives a ring of even thickness, which fries into something uniform and much duller.
2. THE DOUGH IS DELIBERATELY WET AND IS NOT CORRECTED. Three hundred and twenty millilitres to five hundred grams of flour. It is slack and sticky and will not hold a shape on the bench -- which is exactly why it stretches so thin when spun. Adding flour to make it manageable gives a stiff ring that will not stretch.
3. THE HANDS ARE OILED, NOT FLOURED. A bowl of oil beside the work and the hands dipped before every piece. Flour on a wet dough makes a skin that resists stretching, and the flour then burns in the oil.
4. IT IS STRETCHED AND GOES STRAIGHT IN, WITH NO SECOND PROVE. From hand to oil. A stretched ring left even two minutes relaxes and closes up.
5. THE OIL IS AT 180°C AND THEY PUFF IMMEDIATELY. Hot. They should balloon within a few seconds and need turning once; a minute a side. Cooler oil and they absorb it and come out heavy and greasy.
6. THEY ARE SUGARED OR HONEYED WHILE STILL TOO HOT TO HOLD. Straight from the oil into a bowl of caster sugar and tossed, or dipped in honey. The surface has to be hot enough that the sugar partly melts and sticks; sugared cold, most of it falls off.
7. THEY HAVE A LIFE OF ABOUT TEN MINUTES. Crisp for that long and leathery after. They are made and eaten standing up, in batches, and there is no point making them ahead.
8. The flour, yeast, sugar and salt whisked with the warm water and oil to a SLACK, STICKY dough.
9. Kneaded in the bowl 8 MINUTES with a wet hand, then risen 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES until bubbly.
10. The oil heated to 180°C. A bowl of oil set beside the work for the HANDS.
11. A piece of dough taken up in OILED hands, a THUMB pushed through the middle, and the ring SPUN on two fingers to widen and thin it.
12. Lowered STRAIGHT into the oil. No second prove.
13. Fried about 1 MINUTE a side, turned once, until puffed and deep golden.
14. Lifted out and tossed in caster sugar or dipped in honey WHILE STILL VERY HOT.
15. TESTED: the inner edge should be crisp and blistered and the rim soft. An evenly textured ring means it was cut rather than spun.
16. Eaten within 10 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 Tunisia · All recipes