Tarçınlı Lokma (Cinnamon Doughnuts)

First, take the bread pan out of the machine.

Now place the dried yeast in the pan, cover it with the flour, sugar, butter and salt. Add the beaten egg and gently pour over the milk.

Put the bread pan back in the machine. Press select to choose the Basic type of dough. Now press option to choose Dough (2 hrs. 20 mins). Press Start.

When the dough making is complete, remove from the bread pan.

Knead the dough once or twice and then make about 24 small balls the size of a large walnut in its shell. Place half of them on a lightly greased baking sheet.

With your hands, flatten each of the remaining balls into a circle of about 1 cm. (½") thick. Cut out the centre with an apple corer or similar to make rings. Roll the excess dough from the centres into a ball and place them all on the baking sheet.

Cover the baking sheet with lightly oiled cling film and leave the doughnuts (lokma) to rise in a warm place for about an hour, maybe more.

Heat the oil, taking care not to have the oil too hot. These need to be fried slowly so that the centre cooks well. Adjust the temperature if you think it is getting too hot. Fry several doughnuts (lokma) at a time, being careful not to crowd the oil.

When they are nicely golden, remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen towel for a minute or two, to absorb any oil. Drop them into a bowl of caster sugar and cinnamon, toss round gently and place on a serving dish.

Serve warm or cold.

* If you want to make half the quantity use a small or medium egg.

The dough will also keep well in the fridge overnight - bring to room temperature before making the doughnuts (lokma) and continue the recipe from there.