Pączki

Inside the round, puffed-up dough is a sweet filling made from rose petals or stewed plums. Polish pączki are fried pastries made from a yeast dough that uses eggs, milk, butter and other ingredients. They are coated in white powdered sugar or a glossy glaze, and some keep a pale band around the side. Pączki is the plural; a single one is called a pączek. Its bud-like shape lies behind the name.

Working In Butter and Proofing Twice

Flour, yeast, milk, sugar, eggs and fat are kneaded into a soft, elastic dough. Some formulas are based mainly on whole eggs, while others add extra yolks; butter may be worked in a little at a time or melted and added at the end. Even among doughs that include butter in a similar way, the state of the butter and the order in which it is worked in differ by method.

After the first rise, the dough is either rounded by hand or rolled out and cut into circles, then proofed again after shaping. For doughs high in sugar, the process is managed to suit the formula, for example by using osmotolerant (sugar-tolerant) yeast. A small amount of Spirytus or rum is sometimes added, but there are also methods that use no alcohol. It is the fermentation of the yeast that makes the dough rise.

Filling Before Frying and Filling After Frying

In the fill-first method, the dough is flattened slightly, jam is placed in the center, and the seam is sealed tightly before the dough is proofed. This method of enclosing the filling before frying continues in Polish homes and has also been handed down in the Silesia region.

When filling after frying, only the dough is fried and drained, and then jam or another filling is piped into the center with a piping bag through a hole made in the side. The time spent waiting before finishing also differs between pączki that are cooled and dusted with powdered sugar and those that are glazed while still warm.

Oil is added to a depth at which the dough floats without touching the bottom of the pan, and the pączki are fried on both sides at around 175°C, turning them over. If the oil is too hot, only the surface browns deeply and the heat does not reach the inside. When well-proofed, lightened dough floats, a pale band may remain between the browned top and bottom. This band appears depending on the shaping and proofing and on which part sat above the surface of the oil.

Fillings, Finishes and the Pączki of the Silesia Region

Rose petal confiture adds a floral aroma, and powidła, made by cooking plums down until thick, adds a sweet-tart flavor. Both are filled into dough containing eggs and butter. Custard and chocolate are also present-day fillings. In contrast to the whiteness of powdered sugar, glazes are sometimes scattered with candied orange peel.

The Silesia region’s kreple and kraple include versions dusted with powdered sugar and versions coated with glaze, as well as versions with no filling. Even for a pastry from the same country, the fillings and finishes vary by household and region.

Pączki dough before proofing, before it is divided into small pieces and fried. Photo: Wolfcat-hybrid, 2025-03-01, location unknown. Original image / CC0. Downscaled version from the hosting source; no additional processing.

From Savory to Sweet, from Firm Dough to Soft

Old pączki included savory versions served with alcohol at celebrations. According to a Polish government guide, they were at first bread dough filled with meat or pork fat; sweet versions came to be made in the 16th century, and light yeast dough began to be used in the 17th century. Researchers at the Academy of Sciences also date the appearance of sweet fillings to the 16th century. However, exactly when sweet fillings and light dough spread in each region is not clear in detail.

Jędrzej Kitowicz, who wrote about 18th-century court culture, stated that compared with the firm pączki of earlier times, those of his day were so light that they sprang back when pressed. An 18th-century writer thus recorded the change from the firm pączki of the past to light, soft ones as a difference in texture. Switching to sweet fillings and achieving a softness that springs back when pressed were separate changes.

Poland’s “Fat Thursday” and North America’s “Pączki Day”

Poland’s Tłusty Czwartek is the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday. People enjoy rich ingredients before entering the abstinence of Lent, and it is also said that eating pączki brings good luck. Although pączki can be bought year-round, on this day lines form outside shops, and they become a pastry that symbolizes the season.

Pączki crossed the ocean with people of Polish descent, and in places such as Detroit in the United States and Windsor in Canada, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday became “Pączki Day.” The custom spread as local events and bakeries’ sales promotions combined with the practices of immigrants.

Tsuruga Pączki and Local Memory

In Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, students at a local high school made trial batches of pączki as a way to help people learn about the city’s ties with Poland. They are said to have come up with the idea of passing on local memory through a pastry from their experience serving as guides at a museum that conveys the history of the port. “Tsuruga Pączki,” whose formula was adjusted together with a local bakery and which went on sale in 2024, is made with a brandy dough filled with cream, jam or similar fillings. It is an example of changing from the rose jam enjoyed in Poland to more familiar fillings.

Fried Pastries of Jewish Communities and Hanukkah

Pączki are also closely related to round, jam-filled fried pastries such as Berliners. In Jewish communities in Poland, versions in which pork fat was replaced with chicken fat or other fats were eaten at Hanukkah, and these led to the sufganiyot culture of the places where people later settled. Fried pastries made from rich dough have been carried on to other celebrations, with changes to the fat used and the days on which they are eaten.

Glossary