Maybe its regional, without doing research, my guess is that it is. I grew up with fried dough being call Raspale. My Nonni (sorry husband, we called her that, not Nonna) made them two ways- one with an anchovy inside and one with cinnamon sugar on the outside. Her dough was always made with potatoes. My mother tried to get the recipe from her but she would never relinquish it, such was the way with Nonni. Sigh. Really. Why do people do this, their recipes die with them. What a shame. Anyways for years, my mother ad-libbed the recipe. Kind of figured it out. She never wrote down a recipe like this because it was just kind of ad things based on experience and skill. She had asked me many times to find a recipe with potatoes in the dough, I did find a German dough called Fashnacts. This was the closest we came to finding the recipe. Until now. I found a recipe that works really well. I like it but I definitely will add more flour next time as it was a bit too loose to shape,
My Mom always shaped hers like a rectangle then she would count a list int he rectangle and turn an end into the slit. Making a sort of twist. The anchovy ones were more like a small torpedo. Geesh we had to tell the difference because who would want to eat an anchovy one? Well, I do now. I love anchovies now.
This recipe is definitely a winner. It's very light. Light meaning airy not low calorie. Ha its definitely not low calorie. It's a treat to be sure. Generally it is done around Christmas but with all the eating the last thing I want to do is make them at Christmas so I think it will be a yearly treat at Easter.
My daughter use to work at a pizzeria and insisted I do thing in a certain way like they did them. She wanted to me to shake them in a plastic bag with confectioners. No to the plastic bag and no to he confectioners. She wanted me to shape them in a certain way. No, just no. It wasn't just about the product. It was about treating those childhood memories I had and my Mom's way. As long as I am alive and I am making them, this is how I will do it. Thank you very much dear daughter. Some things in a kitchen are not always about efficiency but rather about out sentimental ties to process and form. And my husband backed me as he enjoyed them the same way as a child. So we both got to take a walk down a culinary memory lane.
Love you Mom, you were the best cook! Miss you so much.
RASPALE
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup luke warm water
4 cups AP flour (more to get right consistency)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup about 2 medium potatoes, mashed well
1 1/2 cups water
oil for frying, I used peanut oil
Combine sugar with 1/4 cup water. Sprinkle in yeast and stir. Let sit until foamy.
In a stand mixer, combine flour, salt, water, mashed potatoes and finally yeast water. Keep mixing. Add tablespoons of flour to the batter until you get the right consistency. You want it to be pretty hydrated but able to form into shapes*.
Heat oil to about 350 to 375 degrees. place in hot oil the formed dough. You do not want your oil too hot or you dough think as it will cook too fast on the outside and be doughy on the inside. Once you remove from hot oil roll in cinnamon sugar.
Cinnamon sugar: 1 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Or to taste.
*If you don't care about form and will just plop blobs of dough into hot oil then it is okay if it is a bit more hydrated.
