Polish doughnuts (Pączki)

Dessert · Polish classic.

Ingredients

• 10g Yeast
• 1 tsp Caster Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Flour
• 125ml Milk
• 7 Egg Yolks
• 15g Sugar
• 10g Caster Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 500g Flour
• 200ml Double Cream
• 15g Butter
• 125ml Jam
• 10g Ground Almonds
• For frying Oil
• 75g Icing Sugar
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• Dash Almond Essence
• 50g Almonds

Method

1. Mix together — To make the leaven, mix the yeast with the sugar and flour, and stir in the warm milk.
2. Heat the pan — Set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes. For the dough, put egg yolks into a heatproof bowl and add the sugar and vanilla sugar.
3. Simmer — Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until smooth and thick.
4. Mix together — Sift the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the beaten yolks and the warm cream, mix thoroughly, then add a pinch of salt and the leaven.
5. Knead — Bring together to make a dough and knead for 10 minutes (or 15-20 if doing this by hand).
6. Knead — When the dough stops sticking to your hands, pour in the cooled melted butter and knead for a few more minutes.
7. Cover and cook — Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for at least 1 hr-1 hr 30 mins.
8. Mix together — Mix the jam with the ground almonds and spoon into a piping bag or jam syringe.
9. Continue cooking — Divide the dough into 16 pieces and shape them into doughnuts.
10. Fry — Cover and leave to rise for 30 mins. Fill a deep pan or a deep fat fryer one third full of oil or melted lard and heat it until it is 180C – if you don’t have a thermometer, drop in a small chunk of bread.
11. Continue cooking — The oil is ready when it browns in about 30 secs.
12. Fry — Add the doughnuts and fry, turning them once for about 1-2 mins on each side (a thin lighter ring should form in the middle).

More Poland recipes

• Beetroot & red cabbage sauerkraut
• Bigos (Hunters Stew)
• Bigos (Polish hunter's stew)
• Braised stuffed cabbage
• Challah
• Golabki (cabbage roll)