Best Ponczki Recipes

PACZKI (POLISH DOUGHNUTS)

Steps:

• Place flour, sugar, salt, & yeast in large bowl.
• Stir in warm milk, followed by oil, egg yolks & vanilla.
• With electric mixer, beat for 2 minutes on high speed.
• Stir in enough flour until the dough holds together.
• On a floured surface, knead 50 turns, cover with plastic and let rest 10 min.
• If using custard filling, make it now so it can cool. (see recipe below)
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• On a floured surface, roll dough 1/2-inch thick. Cut circles using a 2 1/2 -inch round cutter, dipped in flour. Re-roll scraps.
• Place mounds on baking sheet, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm spot about 45 minutes. (1 hour at room temp.) During this time, preheat oven to 375° F.
• When paczki are puffy, but not necessarily doubled in size, bake for 10 minutes.
• Melt butter and place 1/3 cup sugar in a plastic produce bag. Lay down some wax paper to save cleanup.
• Remove paczki immediately from pan to wax paper. Brush each one while warm (top & sides) with melted butter and roll in bag to coat with sugar.
• For jam, fill warm or cooled paczki using a pastry bag with a long tip, pushing into the side, or cut a slit in the side and insert filling with a spoon. For custard, cool paczki before filling. All paczki are best served right away.
• In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup sugar + 4 teaspoons cornstarch. Slowly stir in 1 cup low fat or whole milk + 1 egg yolk. Bring to a boil. Cook & stir about a minute. (it thickens more as it cools) Spread onto a dinner plate and let it stand, undisturbed, to cool thoroughly before using - refrigerate if necessary.

POLISH DONUTS PąCZKI RECIPE

Steps:

• If it's cold in your kitchen, heat your oven to 86°F (30°C).
• Sift the flour.
• Warm up the milk.
• Using a spoon, mix yeast with 1 tbsp of sugar. Add 3 tbsps of warm milk and 1 tbsp of flour. Mix and leave it for 30 minutes to grow.The mixture will double or triple its size, that's why you should place it in a big bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen cloth. If it's cold in your kitchen, place a bowl in the oven heated to 86°F (30°C).
• In the meantime, beat egg yolks with sugar until they change the color to whitish. If you are using the pudding filling, it's the right time to do it (read how to do it below).
• After 30 minutes, mix all the ingredients for the dough together. You may knead it manually or use a food processor. Knead until the dough starts to detach from your hand.
• Place the dough in a big bowl, cover with a clean kitchen cloth, and leave to grow for about 30-60 minutes until it doubles its size. Again, if it's cold in your kitchen, place the bowl in the oven.
• When the dough has doubled its size, knead it briefly to remove excessive air bubbles.
• Pour the oil into the wok or big pot and start heating it up.
• Start forming pączki. Each should have the size of the tangerine.
• Cover pączki with a kitchen cloth and wait until the oil is ready to fry.How to check whether the oil is hot enough? Throw a small piece of the dough into the oil. If it stays on the bottom, the oil is still too cold. If the dough comes straight up to the surface, the oil is ready to fry.
• Fry pączki for about 3-5 minutes on each side.
• After frying, place the pączki on a plate lined with paper towels to remove the excessive fat.
• Pour one cup of milk into the pot.
• Add egg yolks, sugar, and whip it together until you will get a smooth, yellow color.
• Place a pot on the stove, cook slowly, stirring frequently.
• In the meantime, pour half a cup of milk into the small bowl.
• Add potato flour. Mix until dissolved.
• When the mixture in the pot nearly boils, add milk with potato starch and mix until you will get the consistency of pudding.
• Mix 1 cup of icing sugar with 1 tbsp water and heat up until you get a smooth consistency.
• When the donuts are still warm, fill them up with jam or pudding using a big syringe (like this). You will need about 30-50ml of filling per donut.
• If you are using sugar glaze, pour them onto warm pączki. You may add candied orange peel as well.
• Alternatively, you may use icing sugar. Sprinkle it when the pączki are cold.

PACZKI

Steps:

• For the paczki: Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Microwave the milk in a small microwave-safe bowl until warm (between 110 to 115 degrees F.), about 1 minute, then stir to even out the temperature. Add the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the granulated sugar, stirring just enough to hydrate the yeast. Let bloom for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add the butter and remaining granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream together on medium high-speed, stopping and scraping the bowl once or twice as necessary, until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the whole eggs and beat on medium high to combine, about 1 minute. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat together another minute.
• Starting with the mixer on low and then raising to medium high, add the flour mixture in 2 parts, alternating with the yeast mixture. Once the last addition of flour has been combined, knead the dough in the mixer until smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. The dough will be slack and sticking to the sides but not too sticky to the touch. If it is too sticky, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour and knead a minute more to tighten it up.
• Put the dough on a flour-dusted surface and knead by hand a few times, tucking the dough under itself to form a smooth ball. Transfer to a large, greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll or pat down to 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into 3-inch circles and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Make one more circle from the dough scraps or make mini paczki to fry. Cover the dough circles with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep Dutch oven to 350 degrees F; line a baking sheet with paper towels.
• Shake off any flour from the dough circles and fry in batches of 3 to 4 until deep golden brown, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on each side. You will be able to tell they are cooked through because the amount of bubbles will reduce to almost nothing. Transfer the doughnuts to the paper towel-lined baking sheet as they come out of the oil. Return the oil to 350 degrees F between batches. Let rest until cool enough to handle.
• For the filling and glaze. Fit a pastry bag with a small round tip and fill with the jam. Set aside.
• Use a thick skewer or chopstick to poke a hole in the middle of each doughnut and wiggle a little space, taking care to not poke all the way through. Fill with the jam using the pastry bag.
• To make the glaze, add the confectioners' sugar to a small bowl big enough to dip a doughnut into. Whisk in the milk until smooth. The glaze should be a little loose, close to the consistency of maple syrup. Dip each doughnut in the glaze, letting it roll off a bit before turning it over to set. Some of the glaze will run down the sides which is okay, but if you need to adjust the thickness, add a little more confectioners' sugar or milk depending on what you need. Let the glaze set for about 5 minutes! If you want to skip the glaze, just dust with confectioners' sugar; many paczki are enjoyed this way too. Paczki are best the day they are made, but they can be stored in an airtight container to enjoy the next day.

PąCZKI RECIPE (POLISH DOUGHNUTS)

Steps:

• Make the dough: Add butter into a medium saucepan and heat until melted. Add the cold milk, sugar, and vanilla extract to the pot, stir until combined, then take the pot off the heat. Pour the mixture into a medium bowl, make sure the temperature of the liquid is between 100-110°F (38-43°C) (pleasantly warm to your finger) then stir in the yeast (adding yeast into a warm liquid will make them rise faster). After about 1-2 minutes you should see the yeast is starting to 'bloom' (will be frothy/foamy). You can omit this step and simply combine all the ingredients together in a bowl when using fast-acting instant yeast.
• Add lightly beaten egg, egg yolks, brandy/rum, salt, and flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture.
• Stir with a spoon until roughly combined then start kneading by hand or with a stand mixer using a dough hook attachment. Knead the dough until soft, elastic, and no more sticky. It will take 7 minutes on speed 2 in Kitchen Aid or about 15 minutes by hand. If kneading the dough by hand you can find the mixture too sticky, try not to add too much additional flour.
• After 7 minutes of kneading with a mixer, you will see that the dough starts to clean off the sides of the bowl, it will be very soft and a little bit sticky. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl with a spatula and knead it by hand for a minute. After this time the dough should be smooth, soft and should no longer stick to your hands. If you have used a kitchen scale to measure out the flour you can trust the recipe and use the exact amount written in the ingredient list but if you're using measuring cups you have to assess the texture of the dough and add more flour/liquid if necessary.
• First rise: Form a smooth dough ball, put it back in the bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic foil, and place in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in volume (I'm putting it in a turned off oven with a light on).
• Transfer the dough to a lightly-floured rolling mat/counter and roll it out to a thickness of 4/5 of an inch (2cm). Cut out rounds using a 2 3/4 to 3-inch biscuit cutter (I used a 2 3/4 which is 7cm). You can knead the leftover dough into a ball, roll it out, and again cut out rounds. You can also simply divide the dough into 80g-pieces, and roll each piece of dough into a ball.
• Second rise: Place pieces of dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, about 2-inches (5cm) apart. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise for 30 minutes.
• Fry paczki: Heat the oil in a large pot (preferably shallow and wide) until the temperature reaches 350°F (175°C). It's best to use a candy thermometer which can be attached to a pot or a digital grill thermometer to check the temperature for the whole frying process. The amount of oil will depend on the size of the pot (I used 6 cups), you should have at least 1 1/2 inches (4cm) oil in your pot.
• Fry paczki in batches (3-5 paczki, depending on the size of the pot). Gently lower the paczki into the oil, I like to pick them up and slide them off of a lightly floured bench scraper.
• It's important to control the temperature of the oil - if it's too hot, paczki will brown too quickly and will be raw in the middle, if it's too low, they will soak up fat and be dense and greasy. Fry paczki for about 1.5 - 2 minutes per side or until golden.
• Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels.
• When paczki are cold enough to handle, fill them with your filling of choice using a piping bag and a long piping tip.
• If you're planning to glaze them with icing it's best to do that when they are still slightly warm but if you want to just dust them with powdered sugar, let them cool first.
• Enjoy!