How to make fried cakes fluffy and plump?
This Fall (and also in Winter), we Argentines have the habit of preparing delicious fried cakes on gray, cold and rainy days. The custom is to make them very thin, but some prefer spongy fried cakes with a thickness the size of one or two fingers.
The latter is customary more than anything in southern Argentina and they are usually called Patagonian fried cakes, where we can see large, fat and very spongy fried cakes
Both types of fried cake are accompanied with the usual: some good mate or matecocido. Here we leave you the recipe so you can make it in the comfort of your home.
Ingredients
Mass
- 500 gr. of Flour 000 (can be mixed with 0000)
- 1 tsp. of salt
- 80cc. of beef fat
- 300cc. of warm water approx.
Ferment for the dough
- 25 gr. fresh yeast
- 1 teaspoon plain flour
- Warm water c/n
- 2 tbsp. of sugar
Preparation
1- A few minutes before total preparation, we have to make the ferment. To do this, place all the “Ferment for the dough” ingredients in a container, mix well and let it rest for 10 minutes in a warm place.
2- Meanwhile, in a bowl we add the flour and make a well in the center. It is important to add the salt to the sides.
3- Add the ferment, the previously melted fat and the (warm) water into the cavity. Little by little, we move with our hands from the center outwards until a dough is formed.
4- Having a bun, it is important to knead it well until you achieve a smooth and homogeneous dough. If you feel that it is sticky, you can correct it with a little more flour.
5- Once kneaded, we have to let it rest. It is recommended to leave it for 1 day, but if you are in a hurry, you can leave it for up to 30 minutes.
6- With the dough already rested, we take out pieces of dough and form the buns. With the help of a stick and a little flour, you stretch them to your liking (remember that they have yeast, don’t make them too thick).
7- While we do this work, you can leave a good piece of fat that melts. The ideal would be quite a bit, since the fried cake has to be completely covered in “boiling” fat.
8- As for cooking, we simply throw the stretched dough (previously we make the traditional hole in the middle) and wait for it to brown well.
9- As we remove it from the pan, it is important to have a container with plenty of absorbent paper to eliminate excess fat.
And that’s how you make delicious fluffy and plump fried cakes. If you liked it, remember that you have more recipes on our website.
Tricks and tips
As we said before, this dough contains yeast. Therefore, if you make them very thick before adding them to the fat, they may be twice as thick and therefore raw inside.
Fermenting seems like a step you can skip, but it is actually very important to the preparation. The good thing is that you can use it with the vast majority of doughs that contain yeast.
You can accompany these fried cakes with whatever you like most, from jam to dulce de leche. Traditionally, when they were just taken off the heat, a little sugar was sprinkled on them so that they were perfect and had an exquisite sweet and sour flavor.