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The smell of these heavenly bites frying will have your mouth watering long before it’s time to dig in. But, this is the price we pay for making delicious treats. The subtle hint of nutmeg comes through in these light African donuts called Puff Puff. Made across Central and West African nations as both a homemade dish and a street food, these are served sweet and also as a side for savory dishes. You can dust them in powdered sugar or dip them into a pepper sauce for even more flavor. More on that later.
To Make the Dough
The first step to making these treats is to activate the yeast with some warm (not hot) water. Combined with a little sugar this gives the yeast something to snack on as they wake up.
Once that’s frothy combine it with the dry ingredients. You want a runny texture. When working with flour you just never know how much moisture it can hold so don’t hesitate to add more water if it looks really dry. If it looks like bread dough it needs more water.
Cover that and let it rise for an hour in a warm place. I like to turn my oven to its lowest setting and then keep the bowl on the stovetop. Or you can set the oven to 350˚F for one minute, turn it off, and place the bowl inside the warm oven.
How to Form the Puff Puff
Once your oil is heated the technique for getting the perfect Puff Puff is the next step and it does take some practice. The key with this batter is to drop it by rounded tablespoonfuls into the hot oil by squeezing the dough with one hand over the pan, not unlike the action of milking a cow. Be careful of the splashing! You definitely want to wear your apron for this recipe.
I found that dropping the dough by hand didn’t yield great results for me. But, I devised an alternate method. I used an ice cream scoop to gather up a generous portion of dough. I flipped the scooper upside down over the hot oil so that a rounded drop was nearest the surface of the oil. Then I used a pair of clean, sharp kitchen shears to cut the dough. Then I repeated the process.
You can also use two spoons to create a rounded bit of dough to go into the oil. It might take some trial and error for sure, but you want the roundest puffs possible so that they not only look pretty, but so that they fry more evenly. Any jagged edges can get burned pretty quickly.
Ways to Serve These Treats
Once these are golden brown on the outside and pillowy soft inside you can serve them with a dusting of powdered sugar (the strainer is your friend here). Or you can dip them into a pepper sauce.
A nice compromise for me and mine personally is some Thai chili sauce. It’s a bit spicy, sweet, and colorful- an ideal dipping sauce for such a wonderful donut.
If you want to try every kind of donut out there (and I certainly have this as a bucket list item) Puff Puff is a must-try delicacy!
Puff Puff
Yield(s): Makes 40-50 pieces
1h 30m prep time
25m cook time
45 calories
Allergens: Wheat
Diet: Vegan
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups warm water, plus more as needed
- 1 (7 gr) packet active dry yeast
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- vegetable oil for deep frying at least 3” deep in pan
- pepper sauce for dipping (optional)
- powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
Preparation
- Whisk together water with yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes or until foamy.
- In large bowl combine flour with yeast mixture, remaining sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Add ¼ cup more water at a time if too dry. Dough should be very wet. Cover and let rise for 1 hour in warm place.
- Heat oil in pan on medium heat (4-6 on a 10-point burner) to about 350˚F. Oil will need to heat for about 8-10 minutes.
- Drop small balls of dough into hot oil carefully or use 2 spoons to form the balls. See "How to Form the Puff Puff" above for more details on how to do this. Rotate as needed with spider or metal spoon. Puffs should be brown on all sides when done.
- Remove from oil to paper towel lined plate to drain. You can dust with powdered sugar to serve or serve them plain with a pepper sauce for dipping.
Recipe adapted from African Bites.