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Bofrot
15 mins Prep Time
11 mins Cook Time
Ghana Bofrot is a wonderful breakfast food, snack and dessert. It is essentially a fried yeasted wet dough, that forms perfectly imperfect balls of golden, crispy and fluffy goodness when cooked in hot oil. It is nutmeg forward and lightly sweetened (more sugar can be added to taste). 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 tries. It took a few attempts to get it 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, handheld 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 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!
Directions
Bofrot
12 Steps
Step 1
If using active dry yeast, in a bowl, mix 1/4 cup warm water and 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon of active dry yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy at the top.
Step 2
In a separate large bowl, mix dry ingredients, flour, remaining sugar, salt, instant yeast (if not using active dry yeast) and nutmeg.
Step 3
Add your yeast mixture to your flour mixture and slowly add the rest of the can of evaporated milk.
Step 4
Mix your vanilla with 1/4 cup water and pour this in and continue to mix.
Step 5
Gradually add the remaining 3/4 cup of water until you get a thick, stretchy but pourable mixture. Traditionally this is mixed with the hand for about 2 minutes but you can use a whisk, hand mixer or stand mixer to form your very wet dough.
Step 6
Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 2 hours. Your mixture will double in size, so make sure the bowl you have it in is big enough so it does not overflow.
Step 7
After 2 hours, punch down your wet dough using hands or spatula.
Step 8
Pour a quart of oil into a deep pot so you can deep fry bofrot.
Step 9
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 oil first before to gauge how long it should fry in oil.
Step 10
The bofrot should be in the oil for about a total of 10-12 minutes and no less for large bofrot like the ones made here (12-14 bofrot).
Step 11
Use wooden chop sticks to continuously turn the bofrot as it is frying in the oil until it is a nice golden brown colour 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.
Step 12
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 spreads like Nutella or icing sugar perhaps.
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