Krafne or Pokladnice - Croatian doughnuts

Home-baking is still popular in Croatia and it is not uncommon to have a freshly baked cake or pastry for special occasions, like Christmas and Easter. Food plays an integral part in the celebration of both holidays. On Fat (Shrove) Tuesday, the day before Lent, which is a forty day fasting period and preparation for Easter, Croats, traditionally, organize Carnival/Mardy Grass celebrations in many towns and villages around the country. During a whole year, but especially during carnival time, Croats traditionally prepare Krafne or Pokladnice and on the Fat Tuesday they are a must and are an important part of the celebration.

Krafne or Pokladnice (in Eastern Croatia also known as Krofne) are Croatian dessert similar to doughnuts (but without holes). They are round and usually filled with custard, chocolate, vanilla cream or jelly. The name comes from German Krapfen, and it is a variation of the Central European pastry, known as Berliner.



In the old days, it was a tradition for neighbors to exchange their Krafne. One housewife would go to another with a plate full of Krafne (mostly to brag about it), because each housewife thought hers Krafne were the most delicious. This usually involved a little play. When exchanging their plates with Krafne, hostess would always praise neighbor’s Krafne and in the same time, with sadness in her voice, complain that hers didn’t turn out so perfect this time. The most common excuse for a failure was that “dough got cold” during preparation, because Krafne must be prepared in a warm kitchen. Although wealthier households had their own private cooks, during carnival time lady of the house would prepare Krafne all by herself (poor her).

Ingredients:

Dough:
0.5 l (2 pints) warm milk
5 tsp sugar
80 g (3 oz) yeast
1 kg (2 lb) flour
1 tsp salt
200 g (3.5 oz) butter, melted
6 egg yolks
2 tsp rum
1 lemon skin grated
1 tsp vanilla

Filling:
1/2 cup apricot jam or jelly


Preparation:

Dissolve the sugar in a cup of warm milk, blend in the yeast and leave for 15 minutes until the yeast grows.

Mix together flour, yeast and remaining ingredients to make dough. Work the mix very well with a wooden spoon, until the dough does not stick to the bowl and spoon any more. While hitting the dough with the spoon make sure the dough does not get raised to high to avoid getting too much air into the dough or the Krafne will get a hole in the middle and will be too dry. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise until it double its size.

Take the risen dough and put it on well floured top. Roll into a bit less than a half inch (1cm) thick roll and cut into round pieces using a cup turned downward. Take each piece of dough and put a spoon of marmalade on one half of the piece. Close the piece with the other half, flatten, and cut off the edges with a bit smaller cup. Repeat with other pieces until you run out of dough. Leave on the pieces on a well floured top, cover with kitchen towel and let rise again.

The other way to prepare dough is to roll it into a bit thicker roll (let's say about a bit more than a half of an inch - 1,5cm ) and cut into round pieces using a cup turned downward. Leave the pieces on a well floured top, cover with kitchen towel and let rise again. You can then proceed straight to the next step and fill Krafne later, after they are done, with some sort of a vanilla cream or melted chocolate, using cooking syringe. Or you can even leave them empty, without any filling.

While doughnut pieces rise, put oil in a pot two inches deep. Start with one doughnut to check out if the oil has the right temperature and that the dough has risen enough. If the conditions are right the doughnut will float in the middle. Close the lid. After the lower half gets golden brown, roll the doughnut over in oil and leave the lid open, until the other half becomes golden as well.

When done remove from oil and drain oil by putting the doughnut on a strainer. Serve while warm with some confection sugar on top. Remember that Krafne are never served on top of each other.