German Berliner (Jam-Filled Krapfen)
Soft balls of butter-and-egg yeast dough fried with their pale "collar", rolled in sugar and piped full of jam: the German jelly doughnut, called Berliner, Pfannkuchen, Krapfen or Kreppel depending on where you buy it.
Germany has one doughnut and many names. Wikipedia says it is a Berliner in the north and west, a Pfannkuchen in Berlin itself (literally, and wrongly, "pancake"), a Krapfen in Bavaria and Austria and a Kreppel in Hesse, and that the 1485 Nuremberg cookbook "Küchenmeisterei" holds the first known recipe for a jelly doughnut, though nobody knows whether its author invented it). Fruit fillings spread once Caribbean sugar became cheap, and Berliners became the treat of New Year's Eve (Silvester) and carnival. Germans also like a prank: a few are filled with mustard and slipped in with the jam ones. In North America the same doughnut was often called a Bismarck (Wikipedia). The most famous Berliner story is a myth: the claim that John F. Kennedy's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" meant "I am a jelly doughnut" spread in the 1980s, but Wikipedia says his German was correct and Berliners do not even call the pastry a Berliner.
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Why it works the kitchen science
The pale collar
A well-risen ball floats high in the oil, so the middle never touches it; that white band marks a light doughnut and is the softest place to pipe in the jam (Dr. Oetker).
Sugar while hot
The surface is still slightly oily for a minute after frying, so granulated sugar sticks evenly; wait, and it falls off.
Step by step
- Step 1
Warm the milk in a small saucepan and melt the butter in it; let it cool to lukewarm.
- Step 2
Mix the flour and yeast in a stand mixer bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla, rum extract if using, salt, eggs, yolk and the milk mixture. Knead with the dough hook on low, then high, about 5 minutes, until smooth.
- Step 3
Cover and let rise in a warm place 45 to 60 minutes, until visibly doubled.
- Step 4
Knead briefly on a floured counter, divide into 15 equal pieces and roll each under your cupped palm into a smooth ball with no cracks. Set them between two floured kitchen towels and let rise 20 to 30 minutes, until clearly puffy.
- Step 5
Heat the oil in a heavy pot to 350°F (bubbles should rise around a wooden spoon handle). Fry 3 or 4 at a time, top side down first, about 3 minutes, until golden; turn and fry about 3 minutes more. A pale band should stay around the middle.
- Step 6
Lift out, drain briefly on paper towels and, while still hot, roll in sugar. Cool on a rack. Let the oil return to 350°F between batches.
- Step 7
Press the jam through a sieve until smooth and spoon it into a piping bag with a narrow round tip. Push the tip into the pale band on the side of each doughnut and fill until it feels heavy.
German Berliner (Jam-Filled Krapfen)
Serves 15 (one doughnut each) · 14 to 16 doughnuts · 2 hr 20 min total
Dough
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 7 tbsp (100 g) butter
- 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp (one 7 g packet) instant yeast
- 2 1/2 tbsp sugar, plus 2 tsp (in place of vanilla sugar)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Optional: 1/4 tsp rum extract
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
Frying, coating and filling
- About 2 quarts neutral oil, for frying
- 1/2 cup sugar, for rolling
- Scant 1 cup (300 g) seedless jam (raspberry, strawberry or plum butter)
Method
- Warm the milk in a small saucepan and melt the butter in it; let it cool to lukewarm.
- Mix the flour and yeast in a stand mixer bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla, rum extract if using, salt, eggs, yolk and the milk mixture. Knead with the dough hook on low, then high, about 5 minutes, until smooth.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place 45 to 60 minutes, until visibly doubled.
- Knead briefly on a floured counter, divide into 15 equal pieces and roll each under your cupped palm into a smooth ball with no cracks. Set them between two floured kitchen towels and let rise 20 to 30 minutes, until clearly puffy.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot to 350°F (bubbles should rise around a wooden spoon handle). Fry 3 or 4 at a time, top side down first, about 3 minutes, until golden; turn and fry about 3 minutes more. A pale band should stay around the middle.
- Lift out, drain briefly on paper towels and, while still hot, roll in sugar. Cool on a rack. Let the oil return to 350°F between batches.
- Press the jam through a sieve until smooth and spoon it into a piping bag with a narrow round tip. Push the tip into the pale band on the side of each doughnut and fill until it feels heavy.
Adapted from Dr. Oetker, "Berliner" (14 to 16 pieces). Dr. Oetker gives no rising times and no frying time; ours are 45 to 60 minutes for the dough, 20 to 30 minutes for the shaped balls and about 3 minutes per side. We convert 175°C to 350°F, replace the packet of vanilla sugar with 2 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and make the rum flavoring optional. The amount of coating sugar is ours. oetker.de. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Dr. Oetker's variations: vanilla or eggnog cream instead of jam, or a thick glaze of powdered sugar and whiskey, eggnog or melted red jelly.
- Make one mustard-filled doughnut if you dare; that is the German tradition.
- Keep the dough balls covered so they do not form a skin, which cracks in the oil.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The first jelly doughnut recipe is German, from 1485. Documented (Wikipedia, citing "Küchenmeisterei", Nuremberg 1485), with the caveat that the recipe may record an older practice.
- A Berlin baker invented them. Folklore: Wikipedia says the name comes from a legend about a Berlin baker.
- Kennedy called himself a jelly doughnut. Documented as a myth: Wikipedia says "Ich bin ein Berliner" is correct German for "I am a Berliner" and the legend spread from a 1983 novel.
- Berliners are for New Year's Eve and carnival. Documented (Wikipedia), though they now sell all year.
- Berliner, Krapfen and Pfannkuchen are different doughnuts. Folklore: they are regional names for the same jam-filled doughnut (Wikipedia).
Every other doughnut
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Scoops of soft yeast batter studded with raisins and currants, fried round and golden and buried in powdered sugar, the Dutch New Year's Eve treat and a cousin of the olykoeks the Dutch made in old New York.
Polish Pączki (Fat Thursday Doughnuts)
Extra-rich jelly doughnuts made with egg yolks, butter and vanilla, fried deep mahogany, tossed in powdered sugar and filled with plum, rose petal or raspberry jam for Fat Thursday.
Israeli Sufganiyot (Hanukkah Jelly Doughnuts)
Small yeast doughnuts scented with cinnamon, fried hot and fast for Hanukkah, filled with a spoonful of berry or plum preserves and rolled in sugar, from Joan Nathan's 1979 holiday cookbook.
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