In a gallon-sized plastic bag, add the yeast, warm water, sugar, brandy, lemon zest, oil, egg and flour.

Zip bag and mix ingredients well.

Place bag in a bowl of very warm water for 1 hour.

Remove dough from bag onto a floured surface. The dough should be sticky, which makes great sufganiyot! Roll out the dough to ½ inch (1 cm) thickness. Make sure both sides of the dough are floured, so it doesn’t stick to the surface. With a cookie cutter or drinking glass, cut 2 inch circles in the dough. When you are left with scraps of dough, roll it out again and cut more circles.

Cover with a towel for 30 minutes. Fill a pan with 2 inches of oil. Heat oil to 350℉/175℃. If you don’t have a thermometer, the correct stove-top temperature will be around medium. You will know if it’s correct when you add the sufganiyot. The oil should bubble around the sufganiyot, but not a ton of bubbles. Fry the doughnuts for about 1 minute on each side. You can always test and check if they're any good.

Remove and place on cooling rack or plate with paper towels.

With a squeeze tube or piping bag, add your favorite jelly or jam to the doughnuts. Just make sure the jelly/jam isn’t too chunky to squeeze through whatever you’re using.