My mom is said to have some of the best bofrot around and of course I concur. In classic Ghanaian mom fashion, she does not measure out ingredients, simply eyeballs everything. Therefore writing this recipe and testing it definitely took a few tires. It took a few attempts to get it just right but these are perfect. Typically, bofrot is mixed entirely by hand and dropped in the hot oil by hand but feel free to use a stand mixer, hand held mixer or whisk to prep the dough. You can use an ice cream scoop to drop dough balls in the oil if you are not as comfortable getting close and personal with hot oil. Ghanaians typically have bofrot without any toppings, plain, as photographed but if you want, you can treat bofrots like you would a more confectionary doughnut and add toppings like Nutella, melted chocolate, jam etc. Try these out today, they are fun to make, tasty and so worth it!
Bofrot
Ingredients
- 4 + 2/3 cups (575 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 grams) sugar divided – 1 teaspoon set aside
- 1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon 1 packet active dry or instant yeast
- 3 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 can evaporated milk 354 ml
- 1 1/4 cup warm water divided into 3/4 cups, 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup
- oil for frying
Instructions
- If using active dry yeast, in a bowl, mix 3/4 cup of warm water and a teaspoon of granulated sugar with a tablespoon of active dry yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy at the top.
- In a separate large bowl, mix dry ingredients, flour, remaining sugar, salt, instant yeast if not using active dry yeast, and nutmeg.
- Add your yeast mixture to your flour mixture, and slowly add the rest of the can of evaporated milk.
- Mix your vanilla with 1/2 cup of water and pour this in and continue to mix.
- Mix until you get a thick, stretchy but pourable mixture. traditionally this is mixed with the hand for about 1 minute but you can use a whisk, hand mixer or stand mixer to form your very wet dough.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in water place for 2 hours. Your mixture with double in size to make sure the bowl you have it in is big enough to it does not overflow.
- After 2 hours, punch down your wet dough using hands or spatula.
- Pour a quart of oil into a deep pot so you can deep fry bofrot.
- Use hand or ice cream scoop and add drops of wet dough into your oil. The oil should be hot but not too hot too cook the outside of the dough before the interior is ready. You can test your first before to gauge how long it should fry in oil.
- The bofrot should be in the oil for about a total of 10 minutes, 4-5 minutes per side and no less for large bofrot like the ones made here (12-14 bofrot).
- Use wooden chop stick to continuously turn the before as it is frying in the oil until it is a nice golden brown on the outside. The dough balls will start to float and you may have trouble browning equally as they turn in oil but be diligent about turning over the dough balls periodically.
- Traditionally, bofrot is served at breakfast with tea, coffee, and porridges but can also be served as a dessert. It is typically eaten plain but can definitely be topped with spread like Nutella or icing sugar perhaps.
