How to Make Paczki! Mmmm... Not Doughnuts
So, that didn't take long! Here's the Paczki (pronounced POHNCH-KEE) video recipe I just produced for About.com's Eastern European Foods site. It's quite an easy recipe, and it's traditionally made on what we call "Fat Tuesday," the day before Ash Wednesday.
This surprisingly light, fried Polish pastry is most similar to our American jelly doughnuts – but, please, do not use the term "doughnut" around any Polish people. They go totally "świrują" (Polish for crazy)! They're right, doughnuts have holes, and these are indeed hole-less.
I had never made this exact recipe before, and was surprised how much less sweet it was than one would imagine. The dough is very similar to a soft roll, with just a hint of sweetness.
While the actual Paczki dough itself wasn't very sweet, the final package – warm soft dough, sweet fruit filling, and powdered sugar dusting – was just right. If you don’t drink coffee, you should really think about starting, just so you can drink it with these. It's a perfect pairing.
By the way, you know the drill; since I can’t embed the actual video player in the blog, when you click on the video you'll be taken to a recipe page on About where you can watch the clip. Just don't forget to comeback here for comments, questions, and general fried pastry discussion.
Special thanks to Barbara Rolek for the recipe! If any of you want to explore some more Polish recipes, or any other Eastern European cuisine, check out her great site. Enjoy!
27 comments:
Nice lumberjack shirt!
Chef you are right that East Europenas can get partisan about this - because american donuts are a degenerated version of a great invention. (The cloying-sweet corn syrup glazing and the nutmeg kill the subtle flavors. And donuts are too heavy anyway).
Simplicity is the key - if the jam filling is any good (I noticed that you are using the excellent Bonne Maman brand) all that is needed on top is a gentle dusting with confectionary sugar.
Chef John, Thank You! I'm a happy girl. BUT! How about subbing a funnel instead of trying to persuade the jelly in there with just a spoon? Can't wait to try these!
did you just can Americans degenerates? Never tried a funnel Basia... I use a pipping bag which is the fastest. But, the spoon does work fine.
In germany it is called "Berliner" it is exactly the same and it is great!
Only the traditional pastry is degenerate - american hams beat polish hams every time
we used to live in southeastern Michigan where there's a huge Polish and eastern European population and every fat tuesday, these were the most popular things to gorge on!
Great recipe.. Will make soon..
I didn't actually know, that the recipe originates in Poland, because in Denmark they are actually called "Belgians".
Those look absolutely awesome.
I've a request while we're on the topic of Polish cuisine: would you happen to have a recipe for flaczki? (I won't be so bold as to ask for a video recipe because I know most people probably wouldn't go for tripe soup, but I'd love to be directed in the right way to make some stuff myself.) Thanks!
send barbara rolek an email, she will hook you up! the link to her site is right there
Hey Chef,
I have seen about.com go from just another happy site to increasingly possessive, paranoid, pain-in-the-neck one, subjecting viewers to increasing level of discomfort, as they go along...
I have visited, browsed them with equal interest (kindled by you), but now I see that I cannot get this video of their's working in my browser with restricted script support (too many scripting tricks on their page).
If this goes along on these lines for their stuff, I will just have to sigh, and move along, muttering praises of about.com.
I should be grateful to them for being so nice to my dear Chef, but why do they have to tick me (and several other viewers who prefer limited script permissions) off?
PS: I browse foodwishes.com with script restrictions (noscript) but never face a problem viewing youtube or vimeo videos here - its a one-click job, so I am not intentionally mean to about.com.
not sure what "who prefer limited script permissions" is, but thanks.
We jews call them sufganiot, and generally insert the jelly through the top. They are traditional Chanukah foods, since they are fried and delicious.
In Israel we had some with Hallavah (ground sesame candy) paste, I prefer that to the jelly personally, though Hallavah isn't too popular in the US outside of the lower east side or areas with large middle eastern populations.
looks delish and super easy! Thanks Chef John!
First of all, Chef John, a little lesson in polish. The word "pomylony" means "to be crazy" or "to be confused" as in "He's very confused, he needs professional help". It has a negative meaning and suggests a sickness. A better word would be "świrują". This word also means "to be crazy" but in a positive, joking way. A little like "screwy" in English :)
So: "They totally "świrują" (Polish for crazy)!"
Birder I have to warn you that preparing flaczki properly is a very long and work consuming process. Even in Poland now days flaczki are usually bough already prepared from the store. I would advise looking for a polish store near you, they should have some. But if you really want, leave your email here and I will send you a recipe or if Chef John doesn't mind I can post it here for everyone to see.
skuffen and CharGeorge pączki have migrated all around the world, they are quite popular, for example, in Brazil and in Chile and almost every country has it's own name to describe them and the recipe is a little different. For example in Denmark they are often made not with yeast but with baking soda or baking powder. From what I know Havallach are more similar to German version of pączki (called Berliner) which are fried considerably shorter then the traditional Polish version. In fact Chef John's recipe is more of a recipe for Berliners then for pączki. Traditional Polish pączki are brown all around and don't have that white stripe in the middle. The pastry is a lot heavier because it soaks a lot more oil during frying. I heard that in Israel in areas where there are a lot of people that came from Poland pączki are served along Havallach as a different treat.
wow, thanks for the very detailed and informative comment! I changed the crazy word... I sure hope you're not pulling my leg, and it means "balls" or something like that. ;-)
Hi Chef John! You cannot imagine how wide was my smile when I read the new recipe. The truth is that the word "świrują" fits great and I was very proud seeing those Polish words on your website. I love your blog!
Hania Sitek from Poland
Czech (and Slovak) tripe soup is called Držková; its very similar to flaczki. Tripe is soaked and thoroughly washed and cooked for long time to soften up before its used in the soup - it is actually lot faster (and less smelly) to use a pressure cooker to prep the tripe. The soup is pretty good as a hungover cure - but it is probably too strong and heavy for summertime.
Yo...C.J.
We have something here called "Gambino Rolls" where it's deep fried roll served with Warm gooey chocolate dip and honey butter.....
I wonder....what an unfilled Paczki would taste like with those two dipping delights....
or...
I might fry up the Paczki then fill it with the chocolate dip and instead of powder sugar baste the tops with warm honey butter.....hmmmm
But first I'll try the version you put up.....then make my evil creations....
thanks and keep it up....
mb
Yum!! I had these in Lublin, Poland a few years ago when I was lucky enough to be in the country for Fat Thursday! (and even luckier to get naleszniki on Pancake Tuesday too!) Bardzo smaczna! :D
Milkshake, are you Czech? I lived in prague for a while and miss it dearly. I haven't had a Czech dumpling and a really fresh Czech pilsner in too long :(. I remember having these in prague with apricot jam, and they were quite good, also about the only traditional "breakfasty" food I could find outside of my little dorm of foreigners.
Hey Chef John,
In Germany this is called a 'Berliner', made infamous by J. F. Kennedy himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pjn5E6yOKo
Keep up the good work
LC
Hey John, just finished eating my Paczi. I filled them with home made boysenberry jam. They looked amazing, but the dough was not very sweet at all. I followed the recipe note for note, but I think next time I'll add more sugar. Thanks for the recipe.
Yes, I mentioned that in the post. The dough is not that sweet at all, but with the sugar and jam it was good for me.
Couldn't we bake them instead? Please advise thanks :)
you can, but you get a dinner roll
Greetings from Slovenia. This pastry is well known in our country too - we call it "krofi" which would be a direct translation of your doughnuts. They are usualy prepared with apricot jam and they MUST HAVE the white edge at the side. This is the main feature - did the cook fried them properly or not. They are considered as one of a bit more complicated pastries, a beginner would not even try to do them. Also they can be bought every day in most bakeries in Slovenia, pepole love them.
Best regards from Tina
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