6 things to know about African donuts

I am sure that everyone here knows or at least has already eaten these donuts, since they are made almost everywhere in Africa 😄. Suddenly, I told myself that you might be curious to know a little more about these donuts , or at least on the way they did elsewhere than at home 🙂

There are so many variants of this recipe . Some add spices , others do not even add sugar to the recipe, some accompany chocolate or peanut butter donuts (which I have not yet had the courage to try 😅). And as in Cameroon , our flour donuts are made very simply, I would never have imagined that we can even add spices to the recipe, never ...

Get ready, the article if it will be really long, I will tell you everything I know about these donuts. Really everything !! We are going to talk about the errors to avoid to succeed in these donuts, the different variations in the recipe, the origin of the donuts etc ... in short the total what

1 - Mikate? Bofloto? Bofrot? : What knows?

It is the ultimate street-food in Africa 😄. All these names refer to the same thing: "African" donuts lol. In Congo they are called Mikaté , Cameroon : Flour or Puff Puff for the English -speaking part of Cameroon and therefore also in Nigeria . Bofrot is the Ghanaian , Gbofloto/Beautiful floating in Côte d'Ivoire , Yovodoko in Benin . In short, I even made a list😄

It is therefore a simple frying dough , done just with the very basic ingredients. Flour, water, salt sugar and yeast and that's it.

Here is my list 😄… Here, I really tried to list all the other names I knew. If you know other names, do not hesitate to tell me in the comments 🙂

1.2 - Who invented African donuts:

And yes, the question seems a little bizarre, it's true 😅 But honestly I wondered, why are these donuts so popular in Africa? Where does this culture come from in reality? Who invented the donuts 🤔? Well, from what I read on the internet, the donuts are from Holland and before the recipe was exported elsewhere, some African countries adopted and integrated it into the diet of the colonizers 😅.

Frankly, I don't know, but it's a hypothesis. I would say that the colonizers were able to bring the idea or at least the recipe, and then we (Africans) developed/modified and adapted the recipe with our techniques. Because honestly, the frying technique that mothers have in the country there, I don't think it comes from elsewhere. ... In any case, it's just my hypothesis 😆.

1.3 - Other variations in the recipe for African donuts

• Did you know we could also do the white donuts ?? Yes, it's very common in Benin , Yovo Doko means “white donuts” in a fonin language in Benin. The recipe is similar to that of the normal recipe, except that here, we do not put the sugar in the dough and during the frying, we do not wait for the donuts to be all golden, and that's it. Afterwards, you can then add a little sugar over it, as I did in the photo😊.

• I noticed that in Congo , they also add nutmeg , but in Cameroon we add any spice! I tested with the nutmeg too and it's very good. It really changes the taste 😋
• In Sudan , I saw certain recipes where we sometimes add a spice called saffron and some people also add yogurt to dough!

• In Ghana , they even add butter , powdered milk and sometimes even eggs . I haven't tried this version yet, but I think the addition of milk will literally transform the recipe. It could become a bit like blown donuts 🤔.

But in general, most countries in West Africa have almost the same recipe, so if you know other variations. I am very curious to read you in comments 😊.

2 - How to make flour donuts? / African donuts:

Before you offer the donut recipe . I will answer a few questions that I have already been asked 😊:

2.1 - What yeast can use to make African donuts?:

We will start by eliminating baking powder (the one we use to make cakes in general). It is not at all suitable for donuts 🙅🏾‍♀️. So it's the baker 's yeast we need. It generally exists in 2 forms:

• Baker's yeast dry , completely dehydrated. It is granulated and has a beige color. It is often sold in a sachet of 7 to 8 grams (this is the one that is most used in Cameroon).

• fresh baker's yeast : it comes in the form of a cube. Its color is also beige and is easy to crumble. This is the one I prefer to use. A cube weighs 42 grams, and is used for 1 kg of flour. I therefore divide the cube in 2 when I do my donuts, and I keep the other part in the freezer to reuse it later. The fresh baker's yeast is alive and active, so it cannot be kept for a long time in the refrigerator or simply in a cupboard of the kitchen such as dry yeast.

I tried the two yeasts and I get better donuts with fresh yeast . But for those who do not find it, or who choose to use dry yeast, know that a bag of about 7 to 8 grams is enough for 500 grams of flour. For those who do not have the small sachets, know that 2 teaspoons equivalent to 8 grams of dry yeast.

2.2 - What type of flour use to make the donuts?

Any type of wheat flour does the trick, so flour with gluten . But hey, you have certainly already seen the different types of wheat flour in stores, but have you already asked for what they differ? 🤔

In short, it is quite simply the degree of treatment of the grain of wheat which determines the mineral content of flour and therefore its classification. Thus, the greater the figure behind the "T", the more the flour contains vitamins, minerals and is therefore less ground, and also generally more expensive 😆

3 - Tips and tips to follow to succeed in these African donuts:

• Salt should not come into direct contact with yeast. Salt, that is to say sodium chloride, prevents yeast from activating. This is why I sometimes add it at first, so with flour and sugar. Or at the very end, when I mixed water and flour well. Do not make the mistake of forgetting the salt in all cases 😆🙉. Saltless donuts don't have good taste. I have already paid the costs 🤣🤣

• It is important to dilute the yeast first, whether dried or fresh, in lukewarm water to activate it. Be careful if the water is too hot, it can destroy the active substances of the yeast and you will find yourself with a paste that will not be able to lift properly.
• Let the dough rise for 1 to 2 hours . If you leave it longer, the dough will ferment and it will be more handy, believe me, I have already tried (once, I wanted to eat the donuts in the evening after work, then I turned the dough in the morning so that I only had to fry them in the evening. In the evening, I unfortunately had to throw the dough, because it had so fermented that it had no more taste).

3.1 - Tip for frying:

Frying is the most important step. You can do your dough well, but at the time of frying, everything goes wrong, either because your oil is not hot enough, or because it is insufficient:

• Use a pan deep enough to fry the donuts
• Fry the donuts with enough oil. The oil must cover the donuts during the frying.
• Make sure that you are hot before you start frying. I test this by first frying a donut. If the oil is not hot enough, the test donut will remain at the bottom. On the other hand, if the oil is hot enough, the donut will rise directly to the surface.
• If you know the technique to fry the donuts by hand. You should always have water next to you in which you can dip your hands before taking your dough for a next frying round. The water allows the dough not to stick too much to the hands. (Rest assured, it does not matter if you do not yet put the technique. It simply comes over time, I too at the beginning I had bizarre shapes 😄 You can also use a spoon for frying , if you never want to complicate your life 😉.

4 - How to succeed in African donut dough?

It was not easy to find the right proportions between water and flour…. If you notice well, in my list of ingredients, I have not always indicated the fixed values. But I set the limits not to be exceeded!

I simply leave the principle that everyone can appreciate these donuts in a different way. So, if you like when your donuts are really very soft, adds every 350 ml of water , otherwise remain at 320 or 330 ml . It depends on everyone's tastes. I remember that once, I put too much water in my dough until the end. I could no longer form my donuts properly during the frying. They were then very ugly.🤣.

But do not forget that the more the donuts cool, the harsh they are! Especially if you only want to use 300 ml of water, I often used only 300 ml of water, because I then had control during the frying 😎, I could form pretty shapes with my hands, just because the dough was not very liquid.

5 - What do we accompany these African donuts with?:

If you are Cameroonian like me, you already have the answer to this question our sounds. With us, we simply call it 𝗕𝗛𝗕 for buckets boiled with beans ! And I assure you that it's just too good. It's a full breakfast!

Serving donuts with porridge is not only typical of Cameroonians. This is the case in almost all other African countries!
But you can also eat the donuts without complement , I personally preferred them with a spicy sauce .

Above all, that all the women who sell the donuts in the country automatically have the pepper next to 😀. It's like that I always bought my donuts, especially when I came back from school, it was too much

6- How to keep these donuts?

That's it, you did your donuts, you really enjoyed yourself, your stomach is full. But you still have it, and you would like to keep the rest for later. But how can we keep them, so that they are still good the next day? This question, I have already asked myself several times. 

I have a lot of testing certain tips:

• Reheat in the microwave : this tip can suit some people, but honestly, I tried it and I hate it. The donuts were not really very good for my taste 😅 I had the impression that an excess of oil had resurfaced 😂 and that the donuts hardened even a little more, I warmed.
• I tried once to redo a briefly frying story to warm up a little what I can assure you that it is a bad idea. 🤣
• Warm in the oven: this is the method that may suit me best, if I had to choose. The donuts have not hardened in relation to microwave heating.

Currently if, me the best method I can suggest to you is just to try to make sufficient donuts . At least that's what I do, I'm just trying to do in small quantities. I eat all once , especially since it's really good when it's hot !!

Thank you for reading until the end 😊. Do not forget to leave me a comment if you would know other names or just other variations in the recipe. I would share the complete recipe in the next post.