Loukoumades Recipe (Greek Honey Doughnuts)

Loukoumades have a reasonable claim to being the oldest dessert still eaten in Europe. Something very close to them, honey tokens called plakous, were given to winners at the ancient games, and the recipe has not changed a great deal since: fried dough, honey, done.

The thing that separates a good one from a heavy one is the batter, which should be far wetter than you expect. It is not a dough you can handle. It is a thick, sticky, elastic batter closer to a very wet bread mixture, and that high hydration is what turns to steam in the fryer and blows the middle hollow.

The other thing is that they do not keep. Twenty minutes after frying they are soft and disappointing. This is a dessert you make while people are sitting at the table waiting.

Key preparation steps

1. Make a wet, sticky batter and let it rise until visibly bubbling.
2. Make the syrup and let it cool while the batter proves.
3. Fry at a steady 175C, shaping with a wet spoon or squeezed from your fist.
4. Drain briefly, then syrup and serve immediately.

How wet should the batter be?

Wet enough that it will not hold a shape. If you can roll it, it is too dry and you will get dense doughnuts.

The right consistency is a thick, sticky, stretchy batter that falls slowly off a spoon in a sheet rather than a drip. A stand mixer with a dough hook for five minutes develops enough gluten to give it that stretch.

It should roughly double and be visibly bubbling on the surface after an hour to ninety minutes in a warm place. Under-proved batter gives heavy, doughy loukoumades.

The right oil temperature

175C, and keep it there. Too cool and the puffs absorb oil and go greasy without crisping. Too hot and the outside browns while the inside is still raw batter.

Fry in small batches. Dropping twenty at once crashes the temperature and you get the greasy result. Six to eight at a time in a domestic pan is about right, and let the oil come back up between batches.

They should sink briefly, then rise and start turning themselves. Nudge them so they colour evenly, and pull them out when they are a deep even gold, around three minutes.

Shaping without a piping bag

The traditional method is to squeeze the batter through your fist so a ball forms between thumb and forefinger, then scoop it off with a wet spoon straight into the oil. It works well and it is oddly satisfying once you get the rhythm.

The easier route is two wet teaspoons: scoop with one, push off with the other. Keep a bowl of water beside the pan and wet the spoons constantly, because the batter sticks to anything dry.

They do not need to be neat. Irregular shapes fry into more interesting textures.

Honey syrup, or straight honey?

A thin syrup rather than neat honey. Pure honey is too thick to penetrate and just coats the outside in a heavy layer, and it seizes as it cools.

Warm the honey with a little water, a strip of lemon peel and a cinnamon stick until it is pourable and fragrant, then take it off the heat. Some cooks make a sugar syrup and stir honey in at the end, which is cheaper and works well.

Pour it over the drained loukoumades while both are warm, then finish immediately with cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Do not soak them or they collapse.

What matters in this dish