Paczki Our Male Schnoodle Food

PACZKI - FAMOUS POLISH DONUTS

Steps:

• 1. Melt you 1/2 cup of butter and let cool to room temp. Warm milk and cream. Beat the whole eggs, yolks and sugar together then add butter and beat thoroughly. Next, add orange zest, salt, cream, milk, yeast, spiced rum and mix well. * THE DOUGH WILL BE SOFT AND STICKY. IT SHOULD ROLL OUT VERY EASILY AND SMOOTHLY.
• 2. Let the dough rise till double in bulk (at least an hour or longer), punch it down and let it double in bulk again. Here is Chef Tad punching down the dough.
• 3. After second rising, punch the dough down again and divide dough. Dust your board liberally with flour and roll out your dough to about 1/2 inch thick.
• 4. Cut into rounds with at least a 3 inch cutter & fry in hot oil. (If you have no cutter then you could use a thoroughly washed tuna can as your cutter.) HEAT YOUR OIL BETWEEN 325 TO 350 DEGREES. --- This is my good friend Kaycee who joined me for the class.
• 5. Depending on the size of your fryer only put a few in at a time. This size that we used in the photo we dropped about 5 to 6 rounds in at a time. Let them start to puff up in the middle and you can see them brown on the one side then turn them over to finish browning the other side. Take them out and let them drain on a paper towel. This happens very quickly within a minute or two.
• 6. After they have cooled you can fill them with your favorite filling or leave plain and dust with powdered sugar or plain sugar. --THESE DONUTS WHEN THEY PUFF UP ARE HOLLOW INSIDE. SO, IT MAKES THEM PERFECT FOR FILLING.
• 7. Here we are filling and dusting the paczki! VERY TRADITIONAL FILLINGS FOR PACZKI - Apricot Poppyseed Black Raspberry Lekvar - (sweetened prune puree) Rose Cherry and more non-traditional flavors too.
• 8. Put the coffee on...fill up some glasses with cold milk and let's eat some Paczki!
• 9. FOR FUN: Our male Schnoodle is named after the famous Paczki. It wasn't until I met my husband Anthony that I heard about the famous Paczki. Not only is his heritage Polish/Italian but he used to be a police officer and has had his share of Paczki. Every year, there is a box of Paczki's that arrive mysteriously in our kitchen! But now, I know how to make them so we can have some homemade. If Paczki the Schnoodle was allowed to eat these famous Paczki he for sure would win. He would probably eat all of them and then be sick but I can assure you every last Paczki would be gone. Do you see his focus on the donut? LOL --- I think he was thinking are they mine? All mine?!
• 10. I stopped over at Krakus Polish Deli & Bakery here in my hometown and saw these lovely towels and just "HAD" to get one. It only seemed right don't you think? lol

PACZKI

Steps:

• For the paczki: Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
• Microwave the milk in a small microwave-safe bowl until warm (between 110 to 115 degrees F.), about 1 minute, then stir to even out the temperature. Add the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the granulated sugar, stirring just enough to hydrate the yeast. Let bloom for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, add the butter and remaining granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream together on medium high-speed, stopping and scraping the bowl once or twice as necessary, until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the whole eggs and beat on medium high to combine, about 1 minute. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat together another minute.
• Starting with the mixer on low and then raising to medium high, add the flour mixture in 2 parts, alternating with the yeast mixture. Once the last addition of flour has been combined, knead the dough in the mixer until smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. The dough will be slack and sticking to the sides but not too sticky to the touch. If it is too sticky, add 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour and knead a minute more to tighten it up.
• Put the dough on a flour-dusted surface and knead by hand a few times, tucking the dough under itself to form a smooth ball. Transfer to a large, greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll or pat down to 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into 3-inch circles and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Make one more circle from the dough scraps or make mini paczki to fry. Cover the dough circles with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep Dutch oven to 350 degrees F; line a baking sheet with paper towels.
• Shake off any flour from the dough circles and fry in batches of 3 to 4 until deep golden brown, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on each side. You will be able to tell they are cooked through because the amount of bubbles will reduce to almost nothing. Transfer the doughnuts to the paper towel-lined baking sheet as they come out of the oil. Return the oil to 350 degrees F between batches. Let rest until cool enough to handle.
• For the filling and glaze. Fit a pastry bag with a small round tip and fill with the jam. Set aside.
• Use a thick skewer or chopstick to poke a hole in the middle of each doughnut and wiggle a little space, taking care to not poke all the way through. Fill with the jam using the pastry bag.
• To make the glaze, add the confectioners' sugar to a small bowl big enough to dip a doughnut into. Whisk in the milk until smooth. The glaze should be a little loose, close to the consistency of maple syrup. Dip each doughnut in the glaze, letting it roll off a bit before turning it over to set. Some of the glaze will run down the sides which is okay, but if you need to adjust the thickness, add a little more confectioners' sugar or milk depending on what you need. Let the glaze set for about 5 minutes! If you want to skip the glaze, just dust with confectioners' sugar; many paczki are enjoyed this way too. Paczki are best the day they are made, but they can be stored in an airtight container to enjoy the next day.