You drop yeast batter into hot oil until it puffs into golden spheres, then drown them in honey and dust them with cinnamon. They should be eaten standing up, while they still crackle — a thin crust, a hollow crumb, honey running to the wrist. That is the correct method.
Loukoumades are festival food: the plate after church, the stall at the panigyri, the doughnut of the winter street. Honey and cinnamon are the orthodox dressing; walnuts if there are walnuts.
Wet the spoon so the batter slides. Fry in batches at 350°F. Pour the honey while they still hiss. They wait about as long as a soufflé, and a cold one is a sad thing.
Method
- 01
Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Beat in the warm water until you have a thick, elastic batter — sticky, stretchy, and a little unruly, more like a sponge than a dough. Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm spot until doubled and bubbly, about 1 hour. You'll know it's ready when the surface is alive with bubbles and it smells faintly of fermentation — don't punch it down.
- 02
Heat 2½ inches of oil to 350°F in a deep pot — a cube of bread should sizzle and brown in about a minute. Wet a teaspoon and drop walnut-sized blobs of batter into the oil, wetting the spoon each time so they slide off cleanly. Fry in batches, turning, until they are deep gold and puffed, 3 to 4 minutes; don't crowd them. They should crackle and hollow out inside, and you must keep the oil at 350°F.
- 03
While the last batch fries, warm the honey with 2 tablespoons of water in a small pan, just until it loosens and runs in a thin stream off a spoon. You don't want it hot enough to burn anyone; you want it fluid enough to drown a doughnut. Keep it warm at the back of the stove. The loukoumades will be ready in a minute, and the honey must be waiting.
- 04
Drain the loukoumades briefly on paper, then pile them on a plate while they still hiss. Pour over the warm honey so it runs into every crevice, dust with cinnamon, and scatter the chopped walnuts. Serve at once — they wait about as long as a soufflé, and a cold loukoumada is a sad thing. Eat them standing up, honey running to the wrist: that is the correct method.
