Pączki Image Used Under Creative Creative Commons License From seasonsandsuppers.ca
My Citizens, few things delight the palate of your supreme Suzerain – the sucrose-loving TFD! – more than a good sugary jelly donut fried in lard and dripping equally with history and jam!
This recipe from Poland absolutely fits the bill at every level! I first learned about this dessert from the amazing food newsletter Gastro Obscura, and I will now share my version of this treat with you! It’s especially apropos given that Fat Tuesday is rapidly approaching, which is the traditional time of year to eat these.
As noted on Gastro Obscura:
The clock counts down as the crowd goes wild. A row of competitors push toward the finish line. It’s not a bike race or a 5k. It’s a pączki-eating contest. Every Mardi Gras, from Tappan, New York, to Hamtramck, Michigan, these fried, sugar-dusted fluffs of pastry have become an occasion for celebrating pre-Lent excess, Polish culture, and of course, gastronomic athleticism.
Golden-brown with a characteristic light ring around the middle, these yeast-risen doughnuts are deep fried and covered with powdered sugar or fried orange zest. They were first made by Polish people using up the last of the sugar, lard, and fruit in the house before the austerity of Lent.
In Poland, they’re filled with rose petal, prune jam, and even fried rose buds, and are eaten on Fat Thursday (the Thursday before Lent) as part of the zapusty, or “carnival season.” These pre-Lent festivities continue to the present day, and bakeries making pączki are known to be the site of hours-long lines on Fat Thursday.
Pączki immigrated to the United States alongside their Polish creators and became ubiquitous in Polish communities on the Eastern seaboard and in the Midwest. In the United States, they’re eaten on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras), the day before Lent begins.
While some pączki are filled with the traditional rose and prune, they’ve also become a vehicle for more inventive fillings, ranging from banana cream to charred rosemary. To be clear, TFD considers these to be abominations.
They’ve also become a vehicle for some serious celebration. Fat Tuesday has officially been dubbed “Pączki Day” in Hamtramck and Chicago. Celebrations in Hamtramck include beer, music, dancing mascots in Pączki costumes, and of course, the annual pączki-eating contest. Meanwhile, Chicago bakers estimate that they sell tens of thousands of the fried treat each day between Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday every year.
While your average Chicagoan has no problem eating a pączki or 12, they disagree on how exactly to pronounce the beguiling bread’s name. For the record, pączki is the plural form of the singular, pączek, and the proper pronunciation is “pownch-key,” though “delicious” works just fine.
Pączki have been known in Poland at least since the Middle Ages. Jędrzej Kitowicz has described that during the reign of August III, under the influence of French cooks who came to Poland, pączki dough was improved, so that pączki became lighter, spongier, and more resilient.
The Polish word pączek is a diminutive of the Polish word pąk “bud”. The latter derives from Proto-Slavic *pǫkъ, which may have referred to anything that is round, bulging and about to burst (compare Proto-Slavic *pǫkti “to swell, burst”), possibly of ultimately onomatopoeic origin.
From Polish, the word has been borrowed into several other Slavic languages, where the respective loanwords (ponchik[a], ponchyk[b] or ponichka[c]) refer to a similar ball-shaped pastry.
As further elucidated in the Polish-American Journal (published since 1911!):
While the practice of Pączki Day is traditionally observed the day before Ash Wednesday in the United States, in Poland, pączki sales are the highest on Tlusty Czwartek, or “Fat Thursday.” (The Thursday before Ash Wednesday). This day marks the start of the final week of the pre-Lenten celebrations.
In Old Poland, the zapusty or “carnival season” reached its height during this period. Elegant balls were held in well-to-do manor houses, attended by young men, women and their parents. Country-folk, on the other hand, would make merry, drink, dance and flirt at the village inn.
The rich would feast on fancy hors d’oeuvres, roast game, and fine wines. Peasants enjoyed their zimne noge (jellied pig’s knuckles), kiszka (blood and groat sausage), and kielbasa z kapusta (sausage and cabbage), which they washed down with beer and gorzalka, the least expensive vodka available.
Common to both groups, however, were pączki, which were consumed in huge quantities.
Citizens, the dough part of this recipe is from the Polish Heritage Cookery book, but I’ve used my own rose jam filling that also includes a goodly hit of Wiśniówka, a sweet Polish liqueur, or cordial, made by macerating (soaking) cherries in vodka or neutral spirits. Typically, the alcoholic content ranges from 30% to 50%. It is drunk from a shot glass and said to help boost the immune system.
Why is there high-proof alcohol in the dough? Read this
Instead of using the traditional fried orange peel to the donuts as a garnish, I’ve updated the recipe to instead use microplaned fresh orange zest mixed with the granulated sugar that coats the donuts for a more substantive hit of orange flavor.
2 cakes crushed yeast (preferred) or 6 packets dry yeast
1 c. lukewarm whole milk
1 c. flour
1 T. sugar
***
For the dough:
8 egg yolks
⅔ c. powdered sugar
2 T. vanilla sugar
2 ½ c. flour into bowl
2 T. grain alcohol
1 stick melted lukewarm butter
***
Rose jam:
1 cup rose petals (free of any chemicals or pesticides)
¾ cup water, with 3 tbsp removed and discarded
3 tbsp Wiśniówka (strongly preferred) or kirsch or Croatian cherry cordial or Cherry Heering or Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
juice of 1 lemon
2 ½ cups sugar
1 pkg powdered pectin and ¾ cup water
***
1 ½ – 2 lbs top-quality lard for frying donuts
Granulated sugar mixed with microplaned orange zest for garnish after cooking
Instructions
ROSE JAM: Pick clean, chemical-free roses.The color roses you chose will determine the color of the jam. Pull the petals from the roses and clip off the white ends.
Pack a one cup measuring cup with rose petals. Put petals in a blender, add water, Wiśniówka and lemon juice.
Blend until smooth, then gradually add sugar. Run blender until sugar is dissolved.
In a pan, stir pectin into water. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour into rose mixture, ⅛ cup at a time with the blender running on low, until you achieve the desired consistency.
Pour into clean glass jars, cover and refrigerate. Will keep for one month.
DOUGH: Dissolve crushed yeast in lukewarm milk, sift in flour, add sugar, mix, cover, and let stand in warm place to rise.
Beat egg yolks with powdered sugar and vanilla sugar until fluffy. Sift flour into bowl, add sponge, egg mixture, and grain alcohol and knead well until dough is smooth and glossy. Gradually add melted lukewarm butter and continue kneading dough until it no longer clings to hands and bowl and air blisters appear.
Cover with cloth and let rise in warm place until doubled. Punch dough down and let it rise again. Transfer dough to floured board, sprinkle top with flour, and roll out about ½” inch thick. With glass or biscuit-cutter, cut into rounds. Arrange on floured board and proceed in either of the following ways:
SMALL PĄCZKI. Place a spoonful of fruit filling (rose-hip preserves, cherry preserves, or other thick jam) off center on each round. Raise edges of dough and pinch together over filling, then roll between palms snowball fashion to form balls. Let rise in warm place until doubled.
LARGE PĄCZKI. Place a spoonful of fruit filling as above on only ½ dough rounds, cover each with another round, pinch edges together, and roll between palms to form a ball. Let rise until doubled in warm, draft-free place.
Heat lard in deep pan so pączki can float freely during frying. It is hot enough when a small piece of dough dropped into hot fat immediately floats up.
Fry pączki under cover without crowding several minutes until nicely browned on bottom, then turn over and fry uncovered on other side another 3 minutes or so.
Note: If using electric fryer, set temp. at 360-375 degrees. If frying in stove-top pan and fat begins to burn, add several slices of peeled raw potato which will both lower the temperature and absorb the burnt flavor.
Pączki may also be fried in oil, but lard produces the tastiest results.
Transfer fried pączki to absorbent paper and set aside to cool. When cool, dust generously with granulated sugar mixed with microplaned orange zest.
Category:Recipes
Nutrition
Calories:2247.05 kcal
Sugar:155.56 g
Sodium:876.05 mg
Fat:78.96 g
Saturated Fat:30.22 g
Trans Fat:0.93 g
Carbohydrates:354.87 g
Fiber:8.38 g
Protein:29.8 g
Cholesterol:422.57 mg
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