Italian Sugar Doughnuts (Ciambelle fritte)
Italian Sugar Doughnuts or ciambelle fritte are enjoyed for breakfast in bars and cafés in Italy with a cappuccino. These have the perfect soft and fluffy texture you want in a doughnut!
- Prep time
- 1 hr
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 20 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 recipe Sicilian Brioche dough
- vegetable oil (for frying (or other neutral flavored oil such as sunflower oil))
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (for coating)
Instructions
- 1
Follow my recipe for making the Sicilian Brioche dough until step #7, that is up to when the dough rises for the first time for 3 hours.
- 2
Cut out 20 -3 inch squares of parchment paper and place on 2 baking sheets. Dust them lightly with all-purpose flour to prevent sticking.
- 3
Divide the dough into 20 roughly -55 gram pieces and roll into a ball. Poke a hole through the center of the ball with your finger and stretch it out into a doughnut shape, as shown. Don't worry if they are not all perfectly shaped. They will nonetheless puff up nicely when fried.
- 4
Place each doughnut on a parchment paper square and place in your unlit oven with the light on to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- 5
Fill a wide heavy bottomed pan with about 1 1/2 inches of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot carefully slide the doughnut off the parchment paper and into the pan. Fry 4-5 at a time, do not overcrowd the pan.
- 6
When one side is golden, flip and fry the opposite side. Do not leave the pan unattended, they fry quickly!
- 7
Transfer the fried doughnuts onto a paper towel lined tray to cool slightly.
- 8
Place a few slightly warm doughnuts at a time in a paper bag. Pour in granulated sugar, fold over the top of the bag and give them a shake to coat with the sugar. Enjoy!