Destination
Buenos Aires
The story
Bolas de fraile, literally friar's balls, are the Argentinian answer to the beignet: yeast-raised dough, deep-fried until it blooms, rolled hot in sugar, then hollowed out and filled with dulce de leche. The name is a piece of Buenos Aires humour, a wink at the tonsured crown of a Franciscan monk. Elsewhere in the country they're called berlinesas, borrowed from German immigration, and further north facturas de grasa, pastries of fat, a nod to their original frying medium.
Method
Whisk the warmed milk with a pinch of sugar and the yeast. Leave 8–10 minutes until foamy on top. If nothing happens, the yeast is dead. Start again.
In a stand mixer with a dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest and eggs. Pour in the yeast milk. Mix on low until it comes together, then increase to medium and knead 6–8 minutes. Add the softened butter in small pieces, one at a time, letting each disappear before adding the next. Knead 5 more minutes until glossy, smooth and pulling clean from the sides of the bowl.
Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm spot for 1 to 1.5 hours, until roughly doubled.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 12 equal pieces (around 75g each). Cup each piece under your palm and roll in tight circles against the bench: the friction pulls the surface taut and gives you the classic round dome.
Space the balls well apart on squares of baking paper (they'll double again). Cover loosely and prove another 45 minutes to 1 hour, until visibly puffed and springy to the touch.
Heat oil to 170°C (338°F) in a heavy pot, deep enough that the dough can float without touching the bottom. Fry 2–3 at a time, seam side down first, for about 90 seconds per side, until each is a deep golden brown with a pale ring around the equator. That belt is the mark of a properly proved bola.
While still hot, roll each bola generously in caster sugar so it clings to the shine of the oil.
Once cool enough to handle, poke a chopstick or the tip of a piping nozzle into the side of each ball and wiggle to create a hollow. Load the dulce de leche into a piping bag with a small round tip and squeeze in until you feel the ball grow heavy in your hand.
Tips
- Oil temperature is everything. Below 165°C they soak up grease; above 180°C they'll darken outside while the inside stays raw. A thermometer is worth the money.
- Don't crowd the pot: three at a time, max. Each ball drops the oil temperature and you want a quick, clean fry.
- The pale belt around the equator is the sign of a well-proved dough. If yours come out uniformly dark, they were overproved before hitting the oil.
- Warm the dulce de leche gently and thin it with a spoonful of milk if it fights the piping bag. Traditional repostero is thick enough to hold its shape when piped.
- Eat within a few hours of frying. Yeast doughnuts stale fast; a day-old bola belongs in the freezer, not the pastry case.
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