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1
Combine the flour, dry active yeast, and sea salt in a large bowl, then add the warm water gradually, working the mixture with one hand until a very loose, wet, almost batter-like dough forms — hydration must sit between 70 and 75%, because it is this excess of water that will open the crumb and blister the crust in the hot oil. The dough will be too sticky to lift cleanly from the bowl; this is correct and intentional. The dough is ready when no dry flour remains and the mass is uniformly shaggy and slack.
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2
Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave the dough to ferment at room temperature for one hour, so the yeast works through the entire mass and the gas it produces is trapped in the wet, extensible structure rather than escaping through a tight surface. The dough is ready when it has roughly doubled in volume and the surface is domed and visibly active with bubbles.
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3
Heat the frying oil in a wide, deep pan to 180°C, because below this temperature the dough absorbs oil before the crust can set, leaving the finished sfenj heavy and greasy rather than light and open. The temperature is confirmed when a small drop of dough sizzles immediately and rises to the surface within seconds; do not allow the oil to fall below 170°C during frying.
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4
Place a bowl of cold water beside the pan and wet both hands thoroughly, so the dough releases cleanly from your fingers and slides directly into the oil without tearing the gas-filled structure you have built. Pull a portion of dough — roughly the size of a large egg — from the bowl without kneading or degassing the mass, work it briefly in the wet hands into a rough round, insert one thumb through the centre, and rotate the ring on the thumb, widening the hole by centrifugal motion, until the ring is approximately 10 cm in diameter.
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5
Fry each ring for approximately three minutes on the first side, then turn and fry for a further three minutes, leaving the pan uncrowded so the oil temperature holds and each sfenj colours evenly rather than steaming against its neighbour. The sfenj is done when the surface is golden-brown, blistered, and irregular — with a visibly open, cratered crust on both faces — then drain briefly.
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6
Transfer immediately to the table and drizzle with runny honey, or shake caster sugar over from close range while the sfenj is still steaming from the oil. Sfenj must be eaten within minutes of leaving the pan; they are irredeemably stale after five minutes and cannot be reheated.