Bambalouni
A single large ring doughnut fried to order and handed over in paper with sugar on it. Sidi Bou Said sells them by the thousand and they are always eaten walking.
Photograph credit: Bambalouni - بمبلوني by Ali bannour · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Storing and Planning Ahead
None. Eat within minutes of frying.
Photograph credit: Bambalouni 01 by Yamen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
How to Make Bambalouni
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Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then beat in the water and 2 tbsp oil to a very wet, sticky dough — more like a thick batter than a dough.
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Beat it hard with a wooden spoon for 4 minutes; it will become stringy and elastic.
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Cover and prove 90 minutes, until doubled and covered in bubbles.
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Heat the frying oil to 175°C / 345°F.
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Wet your hands thoroughly. Pull off a fist-sized piece of dough, stretch it into a rough ring with a big hole, and lower it into the oil.
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Fry 90 seconds a side, turning once, until deep gold and puffed.
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Drain for a few seconds on a rack, then press both sides into the caster sugar and eat immediately.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- A wet dough. Adding flour ruins the texture.
- Wet hands for every single one.
- They are stale in ten minutes. Fry to order.
Some Background
The dough is far wetter than a doughnut dough has any right to be — closer to a thick batter — and that is what produces the light, open, almost stringy interior. It cannot be rolled or cut; it is stretched with wet hands straight into the oil. Resist adding flour to make it manageable, because that is exactly what turns a bambalouni into an ordinary heavy doughnut.
Good Alongside
Sweet mint tea · Turkish coffee · A sea view
Quick Answers
How long does Bambalouni take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour 30 minutes of proving the dough, so allow 2 hours 10 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 8.
Bambalouni Nutrition Facts
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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