Pączki: fluffy Polish doughnuts with plum jam and the pale ring
Doughnuts made with yolks only and a spoon of spirit, which bakers traditionally say limits how much fat they soak up, fried at 175 °C so they get the pale ring around the middle. Filled with plum butter before frying, glazed with icing and candied orange peel. They take time and a thermometer, but the reward is worth it.
Your own work in that: 1 h 5 min.
- Starter 15 min
- Kneading 15 min
- Rising 60 min
- Filling 15 min
- Rising 40 min
- Frying and glaze 35 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake the starter
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm milk, add a tablespoon of the sugar and 2 tablespoons of the measured flour. Leave 15 minutes until foamy.
Foamy starterBeat the yolks
Beat the yolks with the rest of the sugar and the vanilla sugar until pale and thick, 5 minutes. Aerated yolks make light doughnuts.
Yolks pale and thickKnead the dough
Add the starter, yolks and spirit to the bowl of flour and salt. Knead with dough hooks 8 minutes, then pour in the butter and knead another 7 minutes. The dough should be smooth, elastic and come away from the bowl while staying soft.
Ingredients: 500 g plain flour · 250 ml milk · 30 g fresh yeast · 70 g sugar · 5 pcs egg yolks · 70 g butter · 1 tbsp rectified spirit or vodka · 1 tbsp vanilla sugar · 1 tsp salt
TipAlcohol evaporates quickly in the hot fat and, according to bakers' tradition, the doughnuts then absorb less of it. Some use a spoon of vinegar instead of spirit.
Smooth, soft, elasticFirst rise
Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm, draught-free place (about 26–28 °C, e.g. next to a radiator but not on it) for 60 minutes, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Fill and shape
Knock the dough back and divide into 16 balls of about 65 g. Flatten each in your palm, add a teaspoon of plum butter, pinch the edges closed thoroughly and roll into a smooth ball seam down. Space them out on a floured cloth.
Ingredients: 200 g plum butter (powidła) · 1500 ml rapeseed oil or lard
TipThe plum butter must be thick; runny jam leaks and makes the fat foam. Thicken it by cooking it down 10 minutes in a pan.
Ball, plum butter, seal and rollSecond rise
Cover with a cloth and leave 40 minutes. The doughnuts should visibly grow and feel light as pillows. Under-proved ones come out dense and without the ring.
Fry at 175 °C
Heat the fat in a deep pot to 175 °C (thermometer; without one, a cube of bread browns in 40 seconds). Fry 3–4 at a time, 2 minutes per side, top side down first — all the batches take about 25 minutes in total. Lift onto a rack.
TipTemperature is everything. Below 165 °C they drink fat, above 185 °C they are dark with a raw middle. Check after every batch.
175 °C: golden, with the pale ringGlaze
Work the icing sugar with the lemon juice and hot water (add it gradually) into a thick, pourable glaze. Dip the still-warm doughnuts top-down into it. Sprinkle with candied orange peel. Eat the same day.
Ingredients: 200 g icing sugar · ½ pcs lemon, juice · 2 tbsp hot water · 30 g candied orange peel
Glaze on a warm doughnut
Before you start
Where does the ring come from?
From well-proved dough and the right temperature: the doughnut floats high and the fat never reaches its middle. No ring means under-proved or the fat too cool.
Filling after frying
Fry plain balls, cool and fill with a piping bag with a long nozzle. Easier for beginners; nothing leaks.
Next day
Pączki are at their best for 6 hours. The next day, 10 seconds in the microwave brings the softness back for a moment.
