deep frying dough balls... advice please

[snowdy]

Hey guys,
im making pizza tonight with same day dough.. i made 2 batches just in case the first pizza turns out bad.

im gonna have a lot of leftover dough so i thought i would cut it into small balls, deep fry it, and coat with powdered sugar.

ive never deep fried anything at home.

How much olive oil should i put into the skillet? i have a skillet that goes pretty deep so i'll probably use that one. what temperature should i heat the oil to? Once its heated to that temp should i lower the heat or anything?

thanks!!
Dave

[canadianbacon]

Hi Dave,

If you use too little oil, you will be skillet frying instead of real *deep*frying, as the dough will touch the bototm of the frypan or whatever you are using and will burn, or not do evenly.

If you want to cut down on the amount of oil you use, use a smaller pot, so that the oil rises a bit higher in it.

YOu prob want a good inch of oil in the pan.... if you have a deep fryer for doing French fries, then I would use that....

if you are doing it on the stove in a pot, - do NOT keep the element on "high" .... but it back a bit ,,, maybe to about 7, - or the oil will
be way way way over 375, and the stuff will burn before actually cooking inside.

Anyway good luck, any more info needed ? just post again.

Mark

[snowdy]

thanks mark

I'll use a pot.. didnt even think about that, i was gonna use a skillet that is only about 4 inches high.

how long do you think it will take for each little dough ball to cook in the oil?

each will be about teh size of a donut hole.

thanks!

[canadianbacon]

Hi Snowdy,

I'd say about 3-4 mins if that ,,,, if you have a little candy thermometer you can pop that in there and see the temp,
or a meat thermometer that goes up to at least 500 degrees.....

anyway just watch the oil in that pan ! - with french fries, - like ones made from raw potatoes you have to watch for boilovers,
with the water in them.....

anyway I'd day 3 -4 mins......

yeah the pot is good because you won't waste as much oil.....

they will turn out great I know..... they are amazing.

If you want a little twist, - take a bit of sugar in a bowl and put some cinnamon in there with it... then when the balls come out
and are dried a bit, sprinkle some over them.

Btw, put some paper town in a large bowl and put the balls on that, - that will suck out a lot of the oil from 'em.

Just sitting here sucking a beer...... nothing else to do on a Saturday night here for me, so just enjoying myself, listening to Internet radio from Montreal, and surfing.

Mark

[snowdy]

here i go dude!

ill post results later.

hopefully i wont end up in the emergency room with fried hands!! 

[canadianbacon]

Snowdy I have complete faith in you, anyone that can do graphics like you can do anything,
onward march I say 

good luck buddy !

Mark

[snowdy]

hehe thanks mark! 

well, im done with my frying and HOLY SHNIKEES...

i didnt know life could be so good.

i took a dough ball and broke it into about 25 or so small balls with tiny apple slices inside of each one.

heated the oil to 375 give or take 10 degrees either way ... fried all the balls for about 4 minutes each... and put into a basket with paper towels and covered it in cinnamon and sugar mix.

OH MY GOD! talk about the perfect dessert.

any pizza joint that doesnt do this with their dough on their dessert menu is nuts..

man oh man i just opened up a can of worms.

next week... powdered sugar covering.

i wonder if you can put chocolate in the middle too.

wow!!!!!!

[canadianbacon]

Hi Snowdy !

glad it worked out so well ! - the apple is great eh !!!

Hey that's great to hear it turned out so well !

Now next weekend, you can do another recipe I have, - which is for frankfurters ( hotdogs )
it's a pogo batter mix,,,, just dip your stuff into this batter and do what you just did.

I do it with little pieces of chicken, - so you have what the chinese restaurants have - those "bobo" balls  ( chicken balls )

but also, you can use hotdog, and........ onion ! -- oh that's so so good ! .... little onion rings ! ... or onion balls !

so so so good, you will have people asking when you are making them again, and I kid you not !

Mark

anyway glad it worked out well, they sound like a good treat Dave !

[snowdy]

ahhh man ,, you got me anticipating next week!!!

hot dog, etc sounds great!! i have a few other fillings as well im thinking to test out. Im getting a new camera (since my other one stopped working, probaly shouldnt snap pix with wet dough hands again) so i'll be postin pix too

might try some pepperoni and cheese fillings too.. .. hot dog & cheese, burger and cheese.. sky is the limit! hehe

L8r!

[canadianbacon]

Morning Snowdy,

what I used to do while living at home in my drunky party days, about 15 years ago was this,

my brother and I would make little "calzones" ..... I'd made pizza dough an then fill it with a bit of pizza sauce and
pepperoni, and a bit of grated moz. cheese.

Close it up well, and then into the deep fryer - oh man they were good.... they were finger foods, maybe 3 or 4 bites.

Oh boy the good old days, we made a mess on Friday or Saturday nights, beer flowing and cooking and having good times
hahaha.

anyway so many things you can do with the dough....

Mark

[Gils]

Another thing you can do it to roll out the dough until it is around 1/4" thick or so. Take your pizza cutter and cut the dough into strips 1-1 1/2 inches wide.  Grab  both ends and flop it around so that it becomes a twist and toss it in the oil (I would use veg & not olive as olive can flavor it) Cook till a nice golden brown and Sprinkle with a cinnimon sugar combo.   Doesn't take much prep & a nice way to eliminate excess dough.

[canadianbacon]

Great idea Gill !

That's amazing, just as I was reading that, I remember a very old recipe my aunt used to make,
we called them "snakes" .... and yeah they were strips of dough with a little twist, put into frying oil
and then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

anyway thanks for the memories - yeah they are great also !

Put them into a little basket with a cloth in it, and serve 'me at  a party and they are sure to go quickly !

Mark

[candyman]

Mmmmm... CanadianBacon... they sound alot like Zeppole!!!  That is a treat that my grandmother would make us once a year too... on March 19, St. Joseph's Day.  We loved them.  Of course all around town they would celebrate with different kinds of Zeppole.  Some were sweet with cinnoman or sugar, some would have meats or cheeses diced up in them.  Some had anchovies in them (yuck, not for me). 

Great to see someone else had a tradition of eating these also.  I have made them for my kids and they love them.  I don't stick to making them just on St Joseph's Day though.

Joe

[jimd]

My grandmother would make Zeppole and inject them with some sweetened ricotta cheese----similar to cannoli filling. They were wonderful.

[anton-luigi]

My Grandma was basically a full blooded Bohunk  ( which loosely translates to Yugoslavian, Croatian, Polish, etc...)  She used to make these things called,  and I cant be sure on the spelling,  Pitaha's,  and Babika's( pit-uh-huh's and buh-bike-uh's phoenetically),  they were made with dough,  and were first boiled somewhat,  then pan fried in a bit of oil.  I dont remember which one was which,  but one of them was just a 2 or 3 inch long spindle of plain dough,  and the other one was like a ravioli, but was stuffed with a prune.  They were phenomenal.  What kind of dough they were is a mystery, as she has passed,  and took a butt load of family recipes with her. 

[Jackitup]

My Grandma was basically a full blooded Bohunk  ( which loosely translates to Yugoslavian, Croatian, Polish, etc...)  She used to make these things called,  and I cant be sure on the spelling,  Pitaha's,  and Babika's( pit-uh-huh's and buh-bike-uh's phoenetically),  they were made with dough,  and were first boiled somewhat,  then pan fried in a bit of oil.  I dont remember which one was which,  but one of them was just a 2 or 3 inch long spindle of plain dough,  and the other one was like a ravioli, but was stuffed with a prune.  They were phenomenal.  What kind of dough they were is a mystery, as she has passed,  and took a butt load of family recipes with her. 

I think you're talking about 'horns and kolachys'. They can be baked or deep fried. My gramma used to make the prune filled kolachys many, many years ago and they were great. They're all a type of dumpling or pierogi, meat or fruit filled, probably originating from the Chinese, yummy stuff.
Jon

[anton-luigi]

Nope,  these were definitely called pitaha's and babikas.   
  yeah,  sounds like them.  Guess it varies depending on the region,  but same shtuff. 

[anton-luigi]

I searched Yahoo for Kolachy,  and it doesnt seem to be the same thing.  Everything I come up with on Yahoo talks about them being a light flaky pastry.  Your description is much more spot on,  they were very thick and heavy,  doughy,  much like a dumpling in consistency.  Will have to keep searching and see if I can find a similar recipe.