Dish · polish
Pączki
Paczki are deep-fried, yeasted dough balls filled with fruit preserves or custard, dusted with sugar or glazed, denser and richer than a standard doughnut from the egg and butter in the dough.
Where it comes from
They're traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday, the last chance to use up sugar, fat, and eggs before Lent's fasting restrictions began in Polish Catholic households.
What cooks argue about
The disagreement is over frying fat: lard gives the traditional flavor and a specific richness, while vegetable oil is more common now, and cooks argue over how much the fat actually changes the final taste.
Versions
Nobody has published a pączki here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
all purpose flour
active dry yeast
egg
butter