Traditional Homemade Pączki Polish Style/ Tradycyjne Domowe Pączki
Carnival is a time of fun and culinary indulgence. Traditionally, it was a time to fulfill your food cravings before the upcoming Lent. Fat Tuesday begins the period of Shrovetide and heralds the end of Carnival. With fat Tuesday being just around the corner, it most certainly is that time of the year to make pączki which can be so labor intensive but at the same time so much worth the time.This is my oldest pączki recipe passed down from my mom, to which I will refer to as doughnuts in the recipe. I've been making these for many years. It's a recipe that has never let me down. They are always a success, they are soft and do not absorb fat. I make bigger batches and freeze them. They taste just like freshly baked when defrosted at room temperature.Very important to remember that the doughnuts should be nice and brown and you should get that light ring around in the middle. If there is no ring around the middle, then definitely something went wrong with the dough. May have not been kneaded well and/or not risen well /or the oil was not hot enough as some of the indicators. Yields 16 pączki.
Servings: 16 Pączki
Calories: 452kcal
Ingredients
Ingredients for the dough
- 500 grams all purpose flour (sifted)
- 75 grams granulated sugar
- 30 grams fresh yeast
- 7 large egg yolks
- 80 grams unsalted butter (melted)
- 230 milliliters milk (slightly warmed, not hot)
- 2 tablespoons white vodka
- 1 pinch salt (optional)
- 1-2 packages vanilla sugar (or preferred extract)
- 2 liters oil (I used Canola oil)
- 1 small jar raspberry marmalade (or any other preferred flavor)
- 30 grams candied orange peel (for topping)
Yeast starter from above ingredients
- 30 grams fresh yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 30 milliliters warm milk (leave the rest of the milk, which we will add to the mixture later).
Icing
- 200 grams powdered sugar
- 5-6 tablespoons lemon juice (may use water)
Instructions
- Crumble the yeast into a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and mix. The yeast, under the influence of sugar will dissolve quickly. Add 30 ml of lukewarm milk and stir.
- Sift the flour into a larger bowl. Make a hole in the flour and pour the dissolved yeast. Cover with a cloth and place in a warm place for 15 minutes.
- In a second bowl beat the yolks with the remaining sugar until fluffy and light creamy in color for approximately 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt, the remaining milk, white vodka and vanilla powder. Mix gently until all is incorporated well and add to the flour and yeast bowl.
- Knead the dough. This can be done with a mixer with hooks for yeast dough, or by hand. When kneading the dough, do not use any additional flour because the doughnuts will be too firm. I highly recommend using a mixer, because then it is not tempting to add additional flour. If you knead the dough by hand it may take 30 minutes and about 15 minutes with a mixer.
- After several minutes of kneading, add the melted and slightly cooled butter little by little. And mix until the dough forms a uniform consistency.
- Once the dough is well kneaded and comes off the sides of the bowl (it may get a little sticky to your hands, but that's okay, (the doughnut dough is a little loose). Cover it with a cotton cloth and place it in a warm place to rise.
- And here, depending on the prevailing conditions, it will be 1 - 1, 1/2 hours. The dough must double its volume.
- After rising, remove the dough onto the pastry board and knead for a few minutes to get rid of the air.
- Weigh approximately 60 g of dough for small doughnuts, 70 g for larger doughnuts by using a kitchen scale and form into balls. Place doughnut balls on a floured board or parchment paper. Or you can just cut even pieces of dough and form balls, so that the doughnuts are the same weight and fry the same. Flatten the doughnuts with your hands gently.
- Cover with a cotton cloth for another 30 minutes to rise.
- Heat the oil in a large pan. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil. The oil must be exactly between 338 (°F) to 356 (°F) or 170 (°C) to 180 (°C). If the temperature is too low, the donuts will absorb fat and will not be eatable. If it is too hot, they will burn on the outside and remain raw on the inside. Either way adjust the oil temperature as stated above otherwise it will be a waist of your time. Trust me it has happened to me before.
- Place the doughnuts carefully in the oil and fry for about 2 -3 minutes on each side.
- Take the doughnuts to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain the excess fat. Please note that the doughnuts should have the ring around the middle to determine that the dough was well kneaded and risen well.
- Inject the doughnuts with your favorite filling while still warm. I used a large syringe and injected each doughnut with 5 ml of raspberry jam.
- Let the doughnuts cool of a bit before dipping them in the icing.
- I dipped each doughnut in the icing previously made and sprinkled with candied orange peel. You can just sprinkle them with powdered sugar once cooled. Enjoy and Smacznego!
Notes
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 16 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 452 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 34g | 44% |
| Saturated Fat 7.1g | 35% |
| Cholesterol 104mg | 35% |
| Sodium 52mg | 2% |
| Total Carbohydrate 30.1g | 11% |
| Dietary Fiber 1.2g | 4% |
| Total Sugars 5.5g | |
| Protein 5.5g | |
| Vitamin D 11mcg | 54% |
| Calcium 34mg | 3% |
| Iron 2mg | 11% |
| Potassium 83mg | 2% |
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie per day is used for general nutrition advice. This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note; changing anything will cause the nutritional information to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
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