If you love donuts, be sure to also check out our Beignets, Classic Apple Cider Donuts, and Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts next! Do you know when is a good time to eat paczki, other than Paczki Day of course? Anytime, that’s when. Seriously, these are such a yummy treat that it’s sad that they typically only get one short day of glory each year. Paczki (technically, pączki to use the correct spelling from the Polish alphabet) are pillowy soft, sugar-covered Polish donuts filled with a variety of yummy fillings and are traditionally eaten on Fat Tuesday, which comes before Ash Wednesday and Lent. In the U.S., we also know this day as Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, or even simply Paczki Day in parts of the country like Michigan where there were large Polish immigrant populations. That’s how popular these pastries are among the Polish-American descendants of immigrants who settled in some regions of the country. I wanted to include paczki to represent one of the most popular foods from Michigan in my American Eats series, where I’m visiting some of the most iconic recipes from each state, one state at a time. Another popular Polish food you might enjoy are these Pierogi, which are little Polish dumplings that I made when I was looking at recipes for Illinois, which also has a large Polish-American population. These indulgent fried treats were created as a way to use up sugar and lard before the start of Lent. It’s pronounced either PONCH-kee, POONCH-kee, or POUNCH-key, but for all my research I couldn’t find a consistent phonetic pronunciation so if you are Polish and care to weigh in, please comment below and help me out!
Why this Recipe Works
Hallmarks of a perfect paczki: Crisp fried exterior and fluffy insides with a pale band around the middle let you know that these were fried at just the right temperature. It’s an enriched dough, which means it has flour and yeast like you would expect, but also eggs, milk, sugar, and sometimes butter in it for a rich, sweet taste and wonderfully fluffy texture. Traditionally in Poland they are filled with wild rose hip jam or a stewed plum jam, but the sky is really the limit when it comes to filling ideas. Using store bought filling makes these easy to offer a variety.
Ingredient Notes
Eggs: You will use one whole egg and three egg yolks for an extra rich dough. Yeast: I used active dry yeast, which means it requires proofing in some warm water with a little sugar to wake up the yeast before you can use it in the recipe. If you have instant yeast, you can use that instead and skip the proofing step. Butter: Melted butter adds wonderful flavor and richness to this recipe, but oil will work as well.
How to Make This Recipe
Start by proofing the yeast in warm water with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. After about 5 minutes, it should be bubbly and foamy and ready to go. In a large mixing bowl, add milk, remaining sugar, melted butter, egg, egg yolks, salt, and vanilla extract. Mix to combine, then add the proofed yeast and 2 cups of the flour. Beat well with the paddle attachment until smooth. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time. Once the flour has been added, continue to knead with with the dough hook on medium-low speed for about 5 minutes. The dough should start to clean off the side of the bowl but still be very soft. If it’s still sticking, you can add more flour, about ½ cup at a time, until you get a workable consistency, but keep in mind that this will be a fairly stick, soft dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, around 1-2 hours. Enriched dough usually takes a bit longer to rise because ingredients like butter and egg yolks slow the process and weigh down the dough a bit. See recipe notes for info on doing an overnight rise, if you want to make these ahead for easy breakfast prep. Once the dough has risen, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about ½-inch thick. Use a 3- or 3 1/2-inch biscuit or donut cutter (even a lid or glass will work) to cut out circles of dough and transfer them to baking sheets lined with parchment paper leaving space between them to rise. Dip the cutter into flour between each cut to help prevent it from sticking to the dough. Cover the paczki dough and let them rise for 30-60 minutes in a warm spot until puffy and doubled in size. Heat about 3 inches of oil over medium heat in a large cast iron skillet to 325 to 350°F. Fry 3-5 donuts at a time for 2-3 minutes on one side, then flip and fry for another 1-2 minutes on the second side until golden brown with a white stripe around the middle. Use a digital thermometer to monitor the oil temperature while frying and adjust the heat of the stove to keep it between 325 and 350°F. Work in batches so you don’t drop the temperature of the oil too much when you add fresh dough circles to it. Once the paczki are golden brown on both sides with a pale stripe around their middles, use a wire slotted spoon to move them from the hot oil. Drain excess oil on paper towels, then toss them in granulated sugar while still hot. Or if you want to coat them in powdered sugar, let them cool completely first so the powdered sugar doesn’t melt from the hot donuts. Fit a piping bag with an open piping tip and fill with your filling of choice. Stick the piping tip into the side of a paczki and squeeze until the filling starts to pool at the top. If you have a hard time getting your piping bag into the side of your paczki you can make a slit with a knife to get things started. It’s best to store the filled paczki upright with the filling at the top so it doesn’t leak out. They can be kind of messy to eat, but it is so worth it!
Recipe Tips
Storage: These delicious fried treats are most definitely best served fresh and warm, just out of the fryer. We recommend eating them the day they are made, although they can last for a day or two on the counter. Frying tips: Use a good digital thermometer or candy thermometer (affiliate link) clipped to the side of the pan to monitor the temperature of your oil for even frying. If the oil gets too hot, you risk burning the outside of your donuts while the insides are still doughy. If the oil is not hot enough, the donuts will soak up too much of the oil and be greasy. You are shooting for an oil temperature of between 325 and 350°F, and it should only take 2-3 minutes per side to fry the donuts. Halving the recipe: The recipe makes 16-20 paczki, which is quite a few so we usually share with friends since they are best fresh. But if you want to halve the recipe, just use 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, rather than trying to mess around with halving one whole egg. These can be glazed or coated with powdered sugar or granulated sugar. Also, they can be served unfilled, if that’s what you prefer. Although I like them filled best. Powdered sugar vs. granulated sugar: Both area delicious, although I like the sparkle and crunch of the granulated sugar. Roll the paczki in the granulated sugar while they are still hot from being fried so that the sugar can stick best. If you choose to coat your paczki with powdered sugar instead, wait until they have cooled completely from frying before dusting them so the powdered sugar doesn’t melt. Filling ideas: Paczki can be filled with any fruit jam like raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, peach, apricot, or plum. I used some apple pie filling and chopped the apple pieces small to fill some of these paczki. Or any kind of creamy custard, pastry cream, or chocolate pudding fillings would be good.
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