israeli sufganiyot
from Joan Nathan, author: The Jewish Holiday Baker, Random House, 1997

chanukah jelly doughnuts from brizel's bakery
The word sufganiya, a modern Hebrew word, comes from the greek sufgan, meaning "puffed and fried." Every bakery in Jerusalem, no matter the ethnic origin of the baker, makes these jelly doughnuts for Chanukah. They used to consist of two rounds of dough sandwiching some jam, and the jam always ran out during the frying. Today, with new injectors on the market, balls of dough can be deep-fried first and then injected with jam before being rolled in sugar. This is a much easier, quicker way of doing them. And no jam escapes.

• 2 scant tablespoons (2 packages) active dry yeast
• 4 tablespoons sugar, plus sugar for rolling
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water or milk
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 large egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter or parve margarine, at room temperature
• Vegetable oil for deep-frying
• 1/2 cup plum, strawberry or apricot jam

Sprinkle the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar into the water or milk and stir to dissolve.

Place the flour on a work surface and make a well in the center. Add the yeast mixture, egg yolks, salt, cinnamon, and the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Knead well, about 5 minutes, working the butter or margarine into the dough and kneading until the dough is elastic. You can also use a food processor fitted with the steel blade to do this, processing about 2 minutes.

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic, and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Sprinkle flour of the work surface. Roll out the dough to an 1/8-inch thickness. using a 2-inch cookie cutter or floured drinking glass, cut out circles. Let the dough circles rise 15 minutes or more.

With your hands, gently form the dough circles into balls.

Pour 2-inches of oil into a heavy pot and heat until very hot, about 375 degrees.

Slip the doughnuts into the oil, 4 or 5 at a time, using a slotted spoon. Turn them when brown, after a few minutes, to crisp on the other side. Drain on paper towels.

Using a turkey baster or an injector available at cooking stores, inject a teaspoon of jam into each doughnut. Then roll all of them in granulated sugar and serve immediately. You can make larger sufganiyot if you like.

Yield: twenty-four 2-inch wide sufganiyot