Rhubarb Fritters Recipe

4.80 from 5 reviews

Chunks of fresh rhubarb are embedded in a sweet, yeasty dough. The fritters are fried until golden brown and iced with a glaze made from the rhubarb juice.

Prep Time1

Bake Time20

Rising Time2

Total Time3 20

Servings:12 large fritters

Ingredients

Dough

17 ½ oz all purpose flour (3 ½ cups, see note)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
8 oz buttermilk (1 cup, room temperature)
2 oz butter (melted)
2 eggs (room temperature)
4 oz granulated sugar (½ cup)
1 tablespoon instant yeast

Rhubarb

1 ½ pounds rhubarb (diced into ½" pieces)
8 oz granulated sugar (1 cup)
¼ teaspoon table salt

Rhubarb Glaze

8 oz Confectioners sugar (2 cups)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Dough

Whisk together 2 cups of the flour with ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground cardamom and ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper. Set aside.
Combine 8 oz buttermilk, 2 oz butter, 2 eggs, 4 oz granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon instant yeast in a mixer bowl. Mix with the paddle or beater until combined. (Or mix by hand). Add the dry ingredients and mix for 1 minute until it forms a thick batter. Switch to the dough hook. Add the remaining flour.
Knead the dough on the mixer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle more flour if the dough begins to stick to the sides of the bowl. If working by hand add as much of the flour as you can with a wooden spoon then knead in the remaining flour by hand.
Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth, supple and not sticky. Use a little more flour as needed. Form the dough into a smooth ball and place it into a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in volume (about 1 - 1 ½ hours).

Rhubarb

Toss the diced rhubarb with 8 oz granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon table salt, allow to macerate for at least 60 minutes. Drain the juice from the rhubarb into a small pot.

Glaze

Cook the rhubarb juice over medium low heat until the sugar is melted. Combine 8 oz Confectioners sugar with the 1 teaspoon lemon juice Add enough of the rhubarb juice to form a glaze that has the consistency of thin pancake batter. You can use a little extra lemon juice if you run out of rhubarb juice and the glaze is still too thick.

Roll the Fritters

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into a smooth ball. Roll to a 16" x 12" rectangle. Distribute ⅔ the rhubarb evenly over ½ the surface of the dough. Fold the dough over the rhubarb.
Gently press with your hands or rolling pin until the roll is flattened to 1" thick and the rhubarb is embedded in the dough. If you get air bubbles just poke the dough with the tip of a knife to release the trapped air. Scatter the remaining rhubarb over ½ the dough and fold in half again. Flatten to embed the rhubarb into the dough and form into a 12" x 3" log. Use a bench scraper to cut into 12 even pieces.
Use your hands to pinch each piece of dough into a rough disc shape, and to contain the rhubarb. If some pieces of rhubarb fall out, push them back into the dough. Don't worry if they're not perfect, they aren't supposed to be. If some fritters have too much rhubarb and some have too little simply pluck pieces of rhubarb out of one and push it into the other.
Place on a silpat or parchment lined sheet pan dusted with flour. Cover and allow to rise until almost doubled, about 1 hour. The fritters should feel light and puffy. When you poke the dough with the tip of your finger the dent should slowly fill in. If it bounces right back it's not ready.
Meanwhile, heat 2 quarts of oil to 350 °F in a large Dutch oven. Fry the fritters a couple at a time, about 4-5 minutes per side. Drain on a cooling rack while continuing to fry the rest of the fritters.
While the fritters are still slightly warm dip the top of each fritter into the glaze and return to the cooling rack to set the glaze. Best eaten warm or within a couple of hours of frying.

Video

Notes

If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.

The fritters are best eaten within a few hours of frying. They can be held at room temperature for 1 day. Leftovers can be frozen before glazing. Reheat in a warm oven and then glaze.

Nutrition