Sourdough Elephant Ears

Sourdough Elephant Ears take inspiration from the classic fairground fry bread - dusted in cinnamon sugar and served with your favorite toppings, these are sure to become a family favorite!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Discard

Prep Time 40

Cook Time 15

Fermentation Time 6

Total Time 6 55

Servings Elephant Ears

Calories 1638kcal

Equipment

Deep Fryer or Large Pot of Oil
Metal Scoop or Net

Ingredients

300 g All Purpose Flour
100 g Whole Milk Warm
25 g Butter Melted
50 g Sugar
100 g Sourdough Starter or sourdough discard
2 g Salt
7 g Dried Yeast optional

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

100 g Sugar
5 g Cinnamon Ground
2 g Salt a pinch!

Instructions

Pour warm milk, melted butter and sugar into a large bowl and mix together to dissolve the sugar.
Add the dried yeast if you are using and allow it dissolve and foam (takes a few minutes).
Now add the flour, salt and sourdough starter to the mixture and stir into a dry, shaggy dough.
Use your hands to bring the dough together and pick up all the dry bits of flour. If you feel the dough is super dry at this point, add a splash more milk.
Tip the dough out onto the counter and knead until it's soft and supple (this will take around 5 to 10 minutes and can be done in a stand mixer if you'd prefer, but is simple enough to do by hand).
Place the kneaded dough into a bowl and cover with plastic. Allow the dough to rise.
If you're using commercial yeast with sourdough discard, this will only take 1 to 2 hours in a warm environment.
If you are using just active sourdough starter, this could take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours. The dough doesn't have to double, just rise by at least 50% and be puffy.
Once the dough has risen, divide the dough into equal pieces. As these are a rustic type snack, they don't need to be weighed, however if you want to you definitely can.
Shape the dough into rough balls and allow the dough to rest for around 10 to 15 minutes on the counter.
Heat your choice of oil in a large pot (I use rice bran oil or vegetable oil). You want the temperature of the oil to be around 170C.
See notes below for information about size of pot and type of oil.
While the oil is heating up, roll the balls into "elephant ear" shaped pieces.
Add the cinnamon, sugar and salt to a bowl to create the cinnamon sugar and have it close to the oil.
When the oil has reached temperature, gently place one or two pieces of dough in at a time (depending on the size of your pot). Allow them to cook for a few minutes, turning once or twice, until they are golden brown.
Carefully remove from the hot oil and dip into cinnamon sugar.
Serve while hot and crispy.

Notes

USING ACTIVE SOURDOUGH STARTER - If you are using active sourdough starter you do not need to add the commercial yeast. You should have enough leavening power in your starter to rise the dough. The dough doesn't need to double, but a rise of around 50% is good.

USING SOURDOUGH DISCARD AND COMMERCIAL YEAST - If you are using an immature sourdough starter or sourdough discard, it's a good idea to add commercial yeast to give your elephant ears plenty of leavening power. This will shorten the time the dough takes to to rise quite considerably.

FRYING THE ELEPHANT EARS - in the photos on this page you'll see my frying my elephant ears in a huge pot of rice bran oil. I was going through a kitchen remodel when photographing this recipe and I didn't have a stove top. I generally make these using my Dutch Oven filled with 2L of vegetable oil. In these photos I used my husband's outdoor deep fryer which is filled with 9L of rice bran oil. They work just as well in either type of oil. No matter how much oil you use, try to keep it around 170C - if it's too hot the elephant ears will burst and burn and be inedible.

Nutrition