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české vdolky recipe
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Vdolky, Czech Fry Cakes

Do you want to taste a piece of a real Czech delicacy? Try this recipe for a vdolek aka vdoleček, topped with plum jam and sprinkled with grated tvaroh.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Czech
Keyword fry cake, vdolek
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Rising Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Servings 20 pieces

Ingredients

Yeast dough for vdolky:

  • 1 cup (240 ml) milk lukewarm
  • 1 stick (110 g) butter unsalted
  • ⅓ cup (70 g) granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp instant yeast
  • 4 cups (520 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp rum

Topping:

  • plum jam about 6 oz / 1/2 cup / 160 g
  • farmers’ cheese or dry ricotta, a scoop of sour or whipped cream
  • powdered sugar to dust vdolky (optional)

You will also need:

  • flour to dust the worktop
  • 4 cups vegetable oil for frying vdolky

Instructions

  • Take a large mixing bowl, add flour and make a dent in the middle. Place instant yeast there, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar. Pour in about ½ cups of lukewarm milk. Mix the yeast, sugar, milk, and little flour with a fork. Leave it in a warm place for 30 minutes; the yeast mixture should start bubbling.
  • Melt butter and let it cool for a bit. Add it to the rest of the milk in a bowl. The mixture can't be hot, only warm. Add eggs, sugar, a pinch of salt, rum, and whisk everything.
  • Add the mixture to the flour with proofed yeast and make the dough, either by hand with a wooden spoon or using a kitchen mixer with a proper attachment. The resulting dough should be a bit sticky, not too dense. This helps in making fluffy and pillowy vdolky.
  • Let the dough rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes. The dough's volume should be twice as big as before.
  • Dump the risen dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out so that it's about ½ inch thick (not too thin!). Cut the round shapes out with a flipped glass. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth and let it rise again for 20-30 minutes until puffy.
  • Meantime, heat frying oil in a pot over medium heat.
  • Before you fry a vdolek, make a shallow dump with your index finger in the middle. Put a vdolek into the hot oil carefully, with the hole facing downwards.
  • Fry until golden brown, then flip the vdolek and fry the second side. It's quick, about 1 minute on each side.
  • Remove fried vdolky from the oil carefully and place it onto a rack.
  • Spread the plum jam on the surface of the vdolek on the side with a hole. Sprinkle with grated tvaroh.

Notes

  • Makes 20 pieces of vdolky.
  • Enriched yeast dough like this takes a lot of time to rise due to the amount of butter.
  • When you roll out the dough and make individual fry cakes out of it, avoid adding too much flour, or you'll have very heavy and dense fry cakes.
  • The hole in the middle of the fry cake should not go through. It's just a shallow hole, which can fit more jam when being topped.