Austrian Fried Dough with Cinnamon-Sugar (Gebackene Mäuse)
Prep Time30 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr
Cuisine: Austrian
Servings: 8
Ingredients
1cup(250 ml) milk
1packet ¼ oz. yeastor in Austria, you can use 21 g (½ cube) fresh Germ
⅓cup(50 g) all-purpose flour
½cupplus 1 tablespoon (125 g) butter
2egg yolks
dash rum
3 ½cups(500 g) all-purpose flour
¼cup(50 g) granulated sugar
½teaspoonvanilla extract or ½ pkg. vanilla sugar
1teaspoonsalt
vegetable oil for frying
cinnamon and sugar for dredging
Instructions
Gently warm the milk just until it is lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast in about ¼ cup of the milk. Stir in the ⅓ cup of flour. Dust with a tablespoon of flour and let stand in a warm place until cracks form in the flour (about 10 minutes). This is your yeast starter/proofing (known as a Dampfl in Austria).
In the meantime, melt the butter (but don’t let it get hot) and remove from heat. Whisk in the remaining milk, egg yolks, a dash of rum and vanilla extract (if using).
In a mixing bowl, stir together the 3 ½ cups flour, sugar, vanilla sugar (if using) and salt. Add the yeast starter and the butter mixture and knead with a dough hook on low speed for 3-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and it starts to form bubbles.
Place the dough in a buttered bowl, cover and let it rise two times. After rising for about an hour, take the dough out and knead briefly on the counter. Put the dough back into the bowl and let it rise again for about an hour, or until has doubled in size.
Heat 1 ½ to 2 inches (4-5 cm) of oil in a medium-sized saucepan. The oil has reached the right frying temperature of 325-350°F (170°C) when you insert the handle of a wooden spoon in it and it bubbles up around the handle. With a soup spoon first dipped in hot oil, scoop out egg-shaped pieces of dough and fry in hot oil until they are browned evenly. Make about six at a time and keep turning them so they brown evenly. Drain on a wire rack and dredge in the cinnamon-sugar mixture while still warm.