Donuts (and Filled Paczki)

Here is the update for variations on the Paczki recipe to make Donuts or Filled Paczki. Basically, the only difference is in the shaping stage so if you can get that far then you are good to go.

For Filled Paczki, you are going to cut circles about 2.5 inches in diameter. I had a little tool that could cut and crimp, but if you are in a pinch, you can just use the rim of a pint glass. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and then cut your circles. Once you have all your dough shaped, add about a teaspoon of your favorite pie filling in the middle of half of your circles - a true Paczki in my opinion has either Apricot or Prune filling. These fillings will be fine if all your friends are 80 or older, but if you have younger folks you might be sharing these Paczki with, then feel free to try apple or some other filling. Then whisk up one egg - you can add a little water to make it more like an egg-wash, but if you just whisk the egg that is fine. Then brush on your egg(wash) around the teaspoon of filling and place an unfilled circle on top of the filled one. Crimp the corners to make sure you have a good seal. The egg-wash will act as a glue to keep the Paczki from busting open when frying. Once you have completely shaped and filled your Paczki, let them rise for 30 to 45 minutes until they look fairly plump. Fry for about 2-3 minutes a side until deep golden brown. Then toss in sugar and enjoy.


For Donuts, roll out your dough to 1/4 inch thick. Then use two round anythings for the cutting. I used the rim of a pint glass and pop-bottle cap. Keep rolling out and cutting until you have used up all your dough and then let your Donuts rise for about 30 to 45 minutes. They will plump up a little bit more once they are in the fryer so don't worry if they don't look like full size donuts after raising for awhile, they will. Fry for about 2 minutes a side. They don't have to be as dark as the Paczki, but you still want to make sure they aren't doughy in the middle. Test the first few that you fry to see what works best. Roll in cinnamon sugar or make an easy glaze to dip them in. For my glazed donuts, I just used 1 and 1/4 cup confectioners sugar and 1/4ish cup of milk. Just combine the two until you get a glaze that is fairly runny, but will stick to your finger if you dip it in.
For both the Paczki and the Donuts, let them cool for a few minutes before rolling in the sugar or glazing. And when you are rolling out your dough, make sure you are being pretty generous with the flour on your floured surface. Otherwise, when you cut the dough and try to move your circles, they will stick to the surface and quickly no longer resemble circles. Another good idea is to move your cut dough to parchment paper when you let it proof before frying. Enjoy!

Soda Bread

Well I lied. I will post about donuts and filled Paczki later. Today we have more important things like St. Patrick's Day to talk about. St. Patrick's Day is great because it highlights great Irish traditions, food and culture. My favorite among these is ... whiskey. But this isn't a booze blog, it's a baking blog. So my real favorite among these is ... Soda Bread! Now like most things you will eat and drink on St. Patrick's Day, the Soda Bread that you see here isn't entirely the same as its authentic Irish counterpart. Thus, I titled this post Soda Bread and not IRISH Soda Bread. Just like how Corned Beef and Cabbage isn't an Irish delicacy and green Bud Light is an abomination to distinguished Irish drinking heritage (Guinness, Jamesons, etc.), the Soda Bread that we have here isn't truly authentic. It sure evolved from the Irish original, but isn't quite the same. Like I have mentioned before, most breads were developed through very simple means. Irish Soda Bread was originally a peasants bread consisting of flour (usually whole wheat), baking soda (as the leavening agent), salt, and buttermilk (because it was around as a by product of making butter). The two key ingredients here are the baking soda and buttermilk - those are what keep this Soda Bread somewhat authentic. The additions over the years of sugar, raisins and caraway seeds, although delicious, are not truly authentic to the original. This recipe here was passed on up to me from my sister and turned out to be a tasty, sweet version that is totally acceptable to me and my 0% Irish palette. So I hope you enjoy it.
Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 heaping teaspoon of kosher salt or 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup raisins

Recipe:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients (except the raisins) in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the buttermilk and raisins gradually until a wet dough forms.
3. On a floured surface work the dough just enough to form it into a round loaf about 2 to 3 inches high and about 8 to 9 inches in diameter. Don't work the dough too much and there is no reason why you should knead this dough. Working and kneading it too much will only result in a tougher final product.
4. Place your loaf on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and cut a cross into the top. I would say to cut about 1 inch deep into the top of the dough.
5. Bake at a 450 for 15 minutes and then rotate the loaf and turn down the heat to 400 and bake for another 25 minutes.
6. Let cool for at least an hour. I let mine cool overnight.

Some people are particular about having their Soda Bread with butter and jelly, but this loaf will taste great all by itself. Try it any way you like. It doesn't really matter, it will all taste the same after you've had a few pints and your ears are bleeding from all the bagpipes. Enjoy!

Paczki

In our family we don't call the Tuesday before Lent begins Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, we call it Paczki Day. It's a day that we look forward to all year and Paczki are one of our most cherished family traditions. Some of you might be asking yourselves two things: What are Paczki? and How in the hell do you pronounce Paczki? To answer your questions: Paczki are a traditional Polish fried doughnut and in typical Polish fashion are pronounced nothing like they are spelled; the pronunciation that we have always used is poonch-key. I'll post two recipes here, one for Raisin Paczki and one for Filled Paczki - and when I say filled, I mean filled with Prune or Apricot pie filling. As my grandmother was explaining to me the other day, the Raisin Paczki recipe is the official family recipe and the shaping method for the Filled Paczki was given to her by another non-related polak.
For this recipe, I'll give you the ingredients list, but I won't write out the instructions in steps. I am going to pass them along to you like they were passed along to me. It might be a really wordy post, but picture yourself in the kitchen being handed down a family tradition. You don't just get it passed down in a series of step and instructions, it's a conversation. So I welcome you into that conversation and present to you what I will call Sarnowski Raisin Paczki.
Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/2 stick of margarine
• 1 fresh yeast cake
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 cups flour
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins

First of all, you need to hydrate the yeast. Make sure you buy good yeast. We had a disaster a few years ago when the yeast was close to its expiration date and the Paczki never raised properly. So you want to make sure that your yeast is crumbly and not too gummy. In a drinking glass (my grandmother has been using the same one for close to 40 years) put about 1/2 cup of lukewarm water (her official measurement is to the top of the Pepsi logo on the bottom of the glass) and then crumble in the entire cake of fresh yeast. Then stir in a heaping teaspoon of sugar and make sure the yeast dissolves and you get tan yeast water. Then let it sit for a few minutes to activate. While the yeast is starting to bubble, scald and cool the 3/4 cup of milk. You can scald it until it gets that skin on the top or just heat it up a little bit and let it cool - that way you don't have to skim off the top. Also, while you have the time, sift 2 cups (half of your total) flour.
Now come back to the yeast. The yeast mixture should rise to the top of your pint glass. It may take a few minutes, so give it some time. Once your yeast has risen combine the scalded and cooled milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the entire glass of yeast mixture in your large mixing bowl. Then add in your 2 cups of sifted flour. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl as you mix. You will end up with a really wet dough, which is good for now. Cover the bowl and let it rise for 30 minutes or so. When you are getting close to the end of the 30 minutes, melt your butter and margarine in a frying pan over the stove, sift the remaining 2 cups of flour, and beat 3 eggs.
After the dough has rested and raised to about double the original size, mix in your melted butter and margarine and your 3 eggs. Now you will have pretty wet mixture. This is the perfect time to grate in your nutmeg. Grate in about 1/2 to 3/4 of the nutmeg or more if you are feeling particularly wild. Also, it is much easier to add in the raisins now, while the dough is really wet, than when we combine the rest of the dry ingredients. So you should have a well mixed wet dough with the nutmeg and raisins worked in.
Now it is time to add in the 3/4 cups of sugar you should have left, the 1/2 teaspoon salt, and gradually work in the 2 cups of sifted flour that remains. By the time you finish mixing you should have a slightly wet looking dough. Cover the bowl with a towel (my grandmother always has these towels that have a year long calendar printed on them - does anyone else have those? I am pretty sure she is the only person I have ever seen have them. I would swear she screen prints them herself) and let the dough rise for one hour. When you are getting close to the end of the hour, start to heat your oil. If you plan on making these every year or want to modify the recipe to make doughnuts (I'll post that later), you might consider investing in a deep fryer. I got one for like $50 at Target. It's not too big, but it's better that using a big pot on the stove and getting oil everywhere and setting your house on fire. Plus, you can use it for the rest of Lent by having a neighborhood Fish Fry every Friday. Anyways, get your oil up to 375 degrees.
After an hour, your dough should have just about doubled in size. Now the fun part. If you are doing the Filled Paczki you will begin shaping and filling which I will post later with variations for making doughnuts, but if you are making the Raisin Paczki, you can start frying as soon as the dough is done rising for an hour. For the Raisin Paczki, you just spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough from the mixing bowl and drop them in the fryer. Use a basket if you have one, because having 375 degree oil splatter on you doesn't tickle. Fry the Paczki until they are a dark golden brown, but not too dark. It might take a couple attempts to get it right. Try biting into one after it has cooled to make sure it isn't doughy in the middle. You'll get the hang of it pretty quick. Let the oil drip off and cool the Paczki on a wire rack covered with a paper towel for a couple minutes and then roll in sugar. A gallon size freezer bag with a couple cups of sugar does the trick. Just shake a few Paczki around inside until they are well coated. Then have at it. This recipe should make about 3 to 4 dozen Paczki depending on how big you make them. And once you share these with family and friends, 3 to 4 dozen won't nearly be enough. I'll take you through the shaping process for the Filled Paczki and talk about variations for the recipe to make doughnuts later this week. Happy Lent!