Fat Tuesday and Paczki!!!

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, and where I come from that means Paczki Day, pronounced "Poonch-key". Paczki Day precedes the beginning of Lent, and the baking of paczki is traditionally a way to use up all of the fat, sugar, and fruit in the house--things forbidden during the strict Polish Lenten season.

Paczki are flattened sphere-shaped deep-fried dough pieces that are filled with custard,lemon, prune,raspberry,blueberry, cherry, and my favorite when available, chocolate custard. The Paczki are finished with a rub of powdered sugar or they may be iced with a powdered sugar glaze.

Although it says lard, the ones we made at our bakery were made with butter and eggs. This made them stand out from the ordinary Jelly Doughnut. Plus they were a good 6 ounces in weight. We would sell 1000's leading up until this special Tuesday. It would take all of our family to pitch in almost around the clock the last 2 days.

Paczki can be time consuming, and you would need a deep fryer. So if you live near a Polish town, it may be better to buy them. But, if you don't and want to be a Daring Baker, then give this old recipe a try!

Remember all ingredients should be room temperature.
**Step One Dissolve:
1 pkg of yeast into ¼ cup warm water and ½ quart warm milk

**add to the yeast and warm milk 3 cups flour and let rise for about ½ hour to create what is called a sponge.

**Step Two Put together:
½ quart warm milk, ¼ lb. Butter, 2 tablespoons shortening ,½ cup sugar,1 tablespoons vanilla

**In a mixing bowl with a dough hook,mix both of the above steps with 6 eggs, pinch of salt, 9 cups flour and mix until you get a really good textured dough.

**Let the dough rise until double in size, cut the dough into 2 ounce pieces and form balls.

**Place the dough balls on a well oiled flat pan, let them rise for about ½ hour to about ¾ hour.

**Fry dough balls in 350 degree oil until well browned on both sides then put them on a brown paper bag to drain the oil form frying.

**At this point is when you can fill them with the filling of your choice. Take a pastry bag with a large plain tip, poke it right in and fill until it gets heavy. It will feel like your holding a large Hamburger.....

These are Paczki with a light glaze on them.


And these are the ones with a powdered sugar rub.
They are best when just coming out of the fryer,
rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture.

Yummy!

Enjoy Fat Tuesday!