Deep-fried with a crisp exterior and fluffy, chewy interior, Pączki are mind-blowingly delicious yeasted Polish donuts with a fruit or custard filling.
Add ½ cup flour to the bowl of a stand mixer, and carefully pour in the scaled milk. Use the stand mixer’s paddle attachment to mix for 10 seconds on medium-low to medium. Let it cool until lukewarm, about 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, stir together the yeast, lukewarm water, and 1 teaspoon sugar until the yeast is dissolved. Add this mixture to the milk/flour mixture, and mix with the paddle for 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, cover it with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes (it will puff during this time).
Put the bowl of the stand mixer back onto the mixer and attach the dough hook. Add the salt, egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar, vodka, vanilla, melted butter, and remaining 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour. Use the dough hook attachment to mix for 3 minutes on medium-low to medium. The dough will be sticky and wet when it’s done. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, cover it with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest until it’s doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Flour your hands and knead the dough a few times until it comes together nicely.
Shape the Pączki:
Lightly flour your surface, and roll the dough out until it’s a 10-inch circle about 1-inch thick. Use a 2 ½ to 3-inch circle biscuit or cookie cutter to stamp out the dough. You can gather the scraps into a ball, roll it out again, and stamp out circles until the dough is gone.
Arrange the dough circles on a large baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap, and let the donuts rise until they look puffed, about 30 minutes.
Fry the Pączki:
Put the 1 cup of sugar for rolling the donuts into a large bowl.
Add 48 fluid ounces of vegetable oil to a 5-quart pot with a heavy bottom. Heat the oil to 350F, and then cook 4 donuts at a time. Adjust to the heat to try to keep the oil around 340 to 360F. The donuts are done when they’re golden on both sides, about 4 minutes per side.
Remove the donuts from the oil and immediately put them into the bowl of sugar. Use tongs to turn them around in the sugar until they’re well-coated.
Once coated in sugar, place the donuts onto a paper towel-lined baking tray. Cook the remaining donuts the same way. Let the donuts cool to room temperature before filling, about 15 minutes.
Fill the Pączki:
Use a sharp paring knife to cut a slit into the side of each donut.
Put the jam into a piping bag fitted with round tip that’s big enough for the jam to flow through. Insert the tip into the slit you just cut in the side of each donut, and squeeze about 1 tablespoon of jam into the center of each donut. Repeat until all the donuts are filled.
Notes
To Scald Milk: Add it to a small, wide saucepan over medium heat. Cook until it steams and forms bubbles along the outside (it should reach about 180F), and then remove from the heat.
The Role of Vodka in This Recipe: Don’t skip the alcohol in this recipe! I’ve made these doughnuts with and without it, and just a touch of alcohol really does help Pączki absorb less oil from frying, yielding much less greasy donuts. And if you use vodka, you can't taste the alcohol! But I’ve also made them with rum and brandy, which I could subtly taste. For that reason, I prefer to use vodka in this recipe.
Sugar Coating Tip: The sugar sticks to the exterior best if you use fresh sugar each time. If you want the sugar to uniformly coat the outside of the Pączki, you can change out the sugar each time and just add less sugar to the bowl each time. You will need about ⅓ cup of sugar to coat 4 Pączki.
Tip for Filling the Donuts: When you choose a tip for the piping bag to fill the donuts with jam, choose a tip large enough to let the jam flow through. Some types of jam have larger pieces of fruit that others, so make sure you pick a tip that’s large enough for the jam (and its fruit pieces) to fit through.