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Fried Neapolitan staples


Graffes

Neapolitan graffe are delicious sweet donuts typical of Carnival, a real temptation for the eyes and palate.

Neapolitan graffe are delicious fried donuts that can be enjoyed on any occasion, from breakfast to a tasty snack. They are found in the Neapolitan city all year round now, but they are a typical Carnival dessert. Sweet and fragrant, the outside is crunchy, while the inside is soft and fragrant .

They are also very easy to prepare, the important thing is to give them the time they need to rise: only in this way do they release all their spectacular softness. The traditional recipe is with potatoes, you can certainly omit them thus making potato-free staples .

Neapolitan staples with potatoes
Neapolitan staples with potatoes

Ingredients

For Neapolitan staples

  • Flour 00 – 500 g
  • Potatoes – 200 g
  • Butter – 50 g
  • Eggs – 2
  • Granulated sugar – 40 g
  • Milk – 100 ml
  • Fresh yeast – 12 g
  • Fine salt – 1 pinch
  • Organic Orange – 1
  • Organic Lemon – 1

For frying

  • Seed oil – to taste

To complete

  • Granulated sugar – to taste

Preparation

How to prepare Neapolitan graffe with the original recipe

1

Wash the potatoes , preferably all of the same size (ideally no larger than an egg) and cook them in a pan full of water. The time varies depending on the size from 20 to 40 minutes . To test for doneness, pierce them with the tines of a fork. Once cooked, peel them and mash them with a potato masher.

2

Make a well in the flour in a bowl or on a pastry board and place the mashed potatoes and the butter , salt , grated orange and lemon zest, sugar , eggs and yeast dissolved in the milk in the centre.

3

Knead until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough . Let the dough rise in a greased bowl and covered with a cloth or cling film which you will place in the switched off oven for about 2 hours or in any case until it has more than doubled in volume.

4

Form the clips by detaching portions of dough of approximately 100 grams each . Work them with your hands to obtain a cord then close them by overlapping the two ends. Alternatively you can roll out the dough until it reaches 1 cm thick and cut out the donuts with a special pastry cutter.

5

Cut the baking paper to obtain squares of approximately 10-12 cm. Place a clip on each and leave to rise again in the turned off oven for 1 hour.

6

Heat plenty of seed oil in a pan. The ideal temperature for frying the staples to perfection is 160°C-170°C .

7

Once you have ascertained the temperature, lower the staples with the baking paper (it will come off on its own after a few moments and you can remove it with kitchen tongs). Fry them, turning them from time to time so that they are evenly browned .

8

Transfer them to absorbent paper to remove excess grease, then pass them in granulated sugar . Enjoy them now!

Here is a short video of a recipe very similar to ours with all the steps to make them.

It's true, fried they give their best, but if you want to obtain a lighter recipe you can opt for baked or air fryer staples.

Conservation

Since they are fried, we recommend consuming Carnival staples at the moment , when they are still nice and warm and delicious!

Who invented staples?

The origin of Neapolitan staples dates back to the 18th century when the city was under Austrian rule. In fact, they seem to be a revisitation of Krapfen (or donuts) , the typical Austrian pancakes usually filled with jam. They also share the etymology of the name with these: krapf in Lombard meant hook.

Read also
The best Carnival desserts in the Italian tradition

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