Right now I am on holidays in Eastern Europe. But in normal life, I live in Melbourne. In Melbourne, there’s something called the Victoria Market, which is a huge open air market.
The majority of the market sells junk. Like tracksuits pants (sweats for you Americans), ugg boot knock offs, Australiana (boomerang, anyone?) and cheap kids toys.
Then there is the fruit and vegetable section, which I avoid like the plague because of the screaming, shouting spruikers. “Come and get your strawberries! 2 for $5! 2 for $5! Limited time only!”. No thanks!
I do occasionally go to the Vic Market, however, to visit the deli section, and the Polish deli in particular. We stock up on kielbasa (sausage), polish bacon, polish white cheese, gherkins, sauerkraut and frankfurts. Yum!
I’ve been eating a lot of this lately, over here in Poland. It cannot be good for my waistline!
The absolute best market stall of all is the American jam donut van. They sell plump, fluffy, sugar-coated, jam-filled, hot donuts which have an amazing, deep fried, cinnamon sugar sweet smell.
So recently, I made some donuts, burnt myself with hot jam, got cinnamon sugar all over my chin, ended up with super sticky fingers and had my own Vic Market experience right at home.
- ½ kilo plain flour (3⅓ cups)
- 1 tsp salt
- 50g white sugar
- 40g fresh yeast
- 250ml water (1 cup)
- 50g unsalted butter, softened (1/4 cup)
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- Jam of your choice
- Grease a baking tray with spray oil.
- Using an electric mixer fitted with dough hook, mix the flour, salt, sugar, yeast and water together on a low speed until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Add the butter and continue to mix on a low speed for 2 minutes. Turn up to a medium speed and mix for about 5 minutes to develop the gluten. The dough should be smooth and elastic.
- Place on the prepared tray, cover with greased plastic wrap and rest for 15 minutes.
- Once rested, use a scale to divide the dough into 15 x 60g (2 oz) balls. This is about ¼ cup of dough.
- Roll the balls on the bench under the palm of your hand to make them tight and smooth. Flatten slightly and place back on the greased baking tray.
- Cover with baking paper and allow to rise for about an hour, until ¾ bigger than they originally were.
- Meanwhile, combine the cinnamon and sugar together in a medium bowl and place about ⅓ cup of jam into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle.
- When the donuts are almost ¾ proven, heat your frying oil to 180 C (350 F).
- Place 3 - 4 donuts into the hot oil at a time, top side down. Cook until golden brown, then flip and cook until the underside is golden brown.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the donuts from the oil and place them onto kitchen paper to drain.
- While still hot, roll the donuts in cinnamon sugar.
- When the donuts cool slightly, cut a small insert right into the donut with a knife. Pipe the jam into the slit until it is almost full.
- Serve warm! Makes 15 donuts.
- Happy baking!
Adapted from the WAI textbook, Prepare and produce yeast goods.