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!