Bulgarian Fried Dough Puffs

90 min · Medium · Serves 1

820 kcal per serving · 24g protein

Mekitsi are the fried dough puffs every Bulgarian grandmother makes on slow weekend mornings — crisp and golden outside, soft and stretchy inside. The dough is just flour, yogurt, egg and baking soda, and the yogurt is what makes them puff. Serve them hot with honey, jam or crumbled sirene and a glass of cold milk.

Ingredients

• 150 g All-purpose flour
• 80 g Yogurt
• Egg × 1
• 0.3 tsp Baking soda
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1 pinch Caster sugar
• 300 ml Sunflower oil (for frying)
• 1 tbsp Honey (to serve)

Method

1. Fizz the Yogurt

   

   Put the yogurt in a small bowl, stir in the baking soda and leave it for a minute or two. It's ready when it fizzes up and looks bubbly and almost doubled — that fizz is what will make the mekitsi puffy.

2. Mix the flour

   

   In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and sugar.

3. Make a hollow

   

   Make a hollow in the middle, crack in the egg, add the fizzy yogurt, and mix with a spoon, then your hand, until it comes together into a soft, slightly sticky dough — about 3 minutes of kneading in the bowl.

4. Rest the Dough

   

   Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes. It's ready when it looks puffier and stretches easily without tearing.

5. Pour the frying oil

   

   Pour sunflower oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of about 2 cm and set it over medium heat, with the handle turned in so nobody knocks it.

6. Test the oil

   

   After 3–4 minutes, test it: drop in a pea-sized piece of dough — the oil is ready when the dough bubbles up and floats right away. If it smokes, the oil is too hot: pull the pan off the heat for a minute.

7. Pull the dough

   

   With oiled hands, pull the dough into 4–5 balls.

8. Flatten each

   

   Flatten each into a rough disc the size of your palm, thinner in the middle, and lower it gently into the oil away from you.

9. Fry 2 at a time

   

   Fry 2 at a time — never crowd the pan — about 1–2 minutes per side, until each one is puffed and deep golden on both sides.

10. Lift out

    

    Lift the puffs out with a slotted spoon.

11. Drain and Serve

    

    Drain the mekitsi on a plate lined with kitchen paper for a minute, then serve hot, drizzled with honey or with jam or crumbled sirene on the side.