Pączki

Ingredients

Dough

• 700 gstrong white flour
• 250 mlwarm milk
• 6egg yolks
• 1whole egg
• 100 gsugar
• 20 gfresh yeast, or 8 g instant
• 100 gbutter, melted
• 1 tspsalt
• 2 tbspspirytus, rectified spirit, or vodka
• 1 tspvanilla
• grated zest of 1 lemon

Filling

• 300 grose petal jam, konfitura z róży
• or plum butter, powidła
• or thick custard

To fry

• lard, or oil, for deep frying

To finish

• icing sugar
• or a lemon glaze
• candied orange peel

Directions

1. Make a sponge first: mix the yeast with the warm milk and a spoonful of the sugar and flour, and let it foam for 20 minutes. Beat the yolks and whole egg with the rest of the sugar until pale and thick.
2. Combine the sponge, the egg mixture, the flour, salt, vanilla and zest and knead for 10 minutes. Now add the melted butter gradually and knead a further 10 minutes until smooth and glossy. Add the butter late, once the dough has developed, or it coats the flour and the dough never builds strength.
3. Prove for 1 hour 30 minutes until doubled. Knock back gently and divide into pieces of about 60 g, rolling each into a tight smooth ball. Roll them properly smooth with no seams on top, because a seam opens in the oil.
4. Prove the balls on a floured cloth for 45 minutes to an hour, until visibly puffy and light. Heat the fat to 175°C (345°F) and check it with a thermometer.
5. Fry them a few at a time, top side down first, covered for the first 90 seconds. Covering the pan for the first side traps steam and helps them puff, which is a traditional Polish trick. Turn them and fry the second side uncovered for another 90 seconds. Do not crowd the pan, which drops the temperature and makes them greasy.
6. Drain on a rack rather than paper. Fill them once cool, using a piping bag with a long nozzle pushed into the side. Fill them generously, because a thinly filled pączek is a disappointment and Poles are direct about it.
7. Dust with icing sugar or glaze with lemon icing and top with candied orange peel. There is a saying that anyone who eats no pączek that day will have bad luck for the rest of the year, which is taken about as seriously as such things ever are.

Technique

• Rose petal jam is the classic and most prized filling, and plum butter is the other traditional one.
• They are best within hours of frying and stale by the next day.
• Lard gives a better flavour and a crisper result than oil.

Substitutions

• Vodka in place of spirytus, using a little more.
• Any thick jam, custard or sweetened curd.

Variations

• With plum butter, custard or advocaat.
• Glazed rather than dusted.
• Baked, which is not traditional and is a different thing.

History

Filled doughnuts eaten on Fat Thursday before Lent, when Poles consume around one hundred million of them in a single day.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pączki?

Pączki is a dessert from Poland: yeast doughnuts with rose jam, devoured on Fat Thursday. Filled doughnuts eaten on Fat Thursday before Lent, when Poles consume around one hundred million of them in a single day.

How long does Pączki take to make?

Pączki takes 40 min plus 3 hr rising of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 20. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Pączki?

Yes, within limits. Vodka in place of spirytus, using a little more. Any thick jam, custard or sweetened curd.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pączki?

Combine the sponge, the egg mixture, the flour, salt, vanilla and zest and knead for 10 minutes. Now add the melted butter gradually and knead a further 10 minutes until smooth and glossy. Add the butter late, once the dough has developed, or it coats the flour and the dough never builds strength.