Paczki: Polish Doughnuts

Paczki is a traditional Polish pastry filled with a sweet center. Usually fried, this recipe is baked to soft, golden perfection.

Last year, we had Harry Potter Club monthly and made many delicious recipes based on the books and movies. We ended the marathon by watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them a week before seeing Crimes of Grindelwald in theaters. Jacob’s dream is to open his own Polish Bakery, I decided to try making some of the pastries that he mentions. One such pastry is Paczki, a type of Polish doughnut.

Pączki are deep-fried pieces of dough shaped into flattened spheres and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing, glaze or bits of dried orange zest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki

Traditional Paczki (pronounced pontch-kee) are fried. But I don’t like frying foods often. I hate the oil popping on me. So when I found a recipe that instructed to bake, rather than fry, I decided to give it a shot.

The doughnuts came out so soft and fluffy. The hardest part was filling the paczki, but they would honestly be delicious even without a filling in them.

You’ll need about two hours to make the paczki, but half of that is letting the dough rise. Then the doughnuts will bake for about 10 minutes per batch.

The last thing to do is put the filling in the paczki. In my opinion, this is the hardest part. I have a plastic cake decorating tool that I was able to use. I put the flavored jam in the tube and used the long thin tip to press into the center of the doughnut and push the jam inside. It isn’t perfect, but it works pretty well.

You can use any flavor of jam that you prefer. The first time we made these I used up some orange marmalade from when we made Orange Chicken. The second time we used blackberry since that’s our favorite. You could also fill with custard or any other sweet filling.

Step by Step

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 1/2 cups of flour.

In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium until it reaches about 110F. Pour the warm milk, oil, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Use an electric mixer and whisk on high for 2 minutes. Slowly stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, as needed, until the dough comes together. I switched to the dough hook for this part.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and knead the dough about 50 times. Cover the dough with a towel and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick.

Use a 2 1/2 inch round cutter to make circles in the dough then place on the prepared pan.

Re-roll the scraps and continue until all of the dough is used. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dishtowel and let it rise for about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the doughnuts for about 10 minutes, until they are just starting to turn golden and puff up.

Melt the butter and place the sugar for coating on a shallow plate. As soon as the doughnuts come out of the oven, brush with the melted butter. Flip each doughnut over and roll the tops in the sugar to coat.

Place the coated doughnuts on a wire cooling rack to let cool slightly before filling. Fill a pastry bag or cake decorator with your choice of jam flavor. Gently push the tip into each doughnut and squeeze to fill.

Serve immediately as these taste best when they are fresh and still warm.

Recipe

Paczki: Polish Doughnuts

Paczki is a traditional Polish pastry filled with a sweet center. Usually fried, this recipe is baked to soft, golden perfection. 

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Resting Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Course:

Dessert

Cuisine:

American

|

Polish

Keyword:

doughnut

|

Harry Potter

Servings: 12 servings

5 from 6 votes

Ingredients

Dough

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

Filling

• 1 cup jam

Recommended Equipment

• Mixing Bowls – Stainless Steel
• Saucepan – Small
• Electric Mixer
• Baking Mat – Silicone
• Biscuit Cutters
• Pastry Brush
• Wire Cooling Rack
• Piping Tool

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 1/2 cups of flour
• In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium until it reaches about 110F
• Pour the warm milk, oil, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the large mixing bowl with the dry ingredients
• Use an electric mixer and whisk on high for 2 minutes
• Slowly stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, as needed, until the dough comes together
• Lightly flour a clean work surface and knead the dough about 50 times 
• Cover the dough with a clean, dry towel and let it rest for about 10 minutes
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat
• Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick
• Use a 2 1/2 inch round-cutter to make circles in the dough then place on the prepared pan
• Re-roll the scraps and continue until all of the dough is used
• Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel and let it rise for about one hour
• Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake the doughnuts for about 10 minutes, until they are just starting to turn golden and puff up
• Melt the butter and place the sugar for coating on a shallow plate
• As soon as the doughnuts come out of the oven, brush with the melted butter
• Flip each doughnut over and roll the tops in the sugar to coat
• Place the coated doughnuts on a wire cooling rack to let cool slightly before filling
• Fill a pastry bag or cake decorator with your choice of jam flavor. Gently push the tip into each doughnut and squeeze to fill
• Serve immediately as these taste best when they are fresh and still warm

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Nutrition Facts

Paczki: Polish Doughnuts

Amount Per Serving (1 each)

Calories 242 Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Fat 5g8%

Saturated Fat 1g5%

Cholesterol 36mg12%

Sodium 74mg3%

Potassium 68mg2%

Carbohydrates 44g15%

Sugar 24g27%

Protein 3g6%

Vitamin A 95IU2%

Vitamin C 2.5mg3%

Calcium 28mg3%

Iron 1.1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

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