Berliners
Berliner Pfankuchen

This is a nice filled donut with jelly. Popular for Fasching parties but good anytime. Sometimes they are filled with custard, that woud be called a bismarck

ingredients:

1 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1 pkg. dry yeast, rapid rise yeast is best
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lukewarm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 tsp. vanilla or other flavoring

Jelly or custard for filling

Getting all the ingredients together .

Scald milk .
Soften yeast in water and set aside.

3. Put sugar, butter, and salt into a large bowl. I crumbled it up with my fingers. Pour scalded milk, while still hot, over ingredients in the bowl	. When it's lukewarm, add 1 C of flour and beat till smooth. Stir softened yeast, mix well. Measure out 2 ½ -3 C. flour. Add about half the flour to the mixture and beat till smooth.	Add the beaten eggs, then enough flour to make a soft dough.
Knead the dough and if it is still too sticky like it is here, add a little more flour at a time.	Till you get a smooth round ball. Oil the top, cover and raise.	Some places it can rise right on the counter. Where I live I usually warm the oven then shut it off. Put in a pan of water and then the covered bowl with the dough and shut the door for a hour.
When the dough is doubled in bulk punch it down, turn out onto the counter and let it rest for 10 minutes.	Fill a pot with about 3 inches of oil , I use Canola, and heat the oil to 350 degrees. You can also use a nub of dough to test it. Be careful, and don't turn the temperture on high. Heat the oil on medium, give it plenty of time to heat up.	Roll out the dough about 1 / 4 inch and cut out 2 inch diameter circles. if you don't have a round cookie cutter and glass works well for this.
Get your favorite jelly or jam.	Use a good amount of jelly a healthy tablespoon full.	Put one of the circles on top.
pinch the edges to seal	Put them on a sheet pan to raise.	These took another 30 minutes to rise. Now they are ready to fry.
I tested the oil to make sure it was the right temperature. I carefully lifted the Berliner with a metal spatula and placed it carefully in the oil.	Fry them on one side and flip over, and cook on the other.	Lift the donut onto a paper towel when done.
When you are ready to serve top with powdered sugar .