![\"P\u0105czki](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/0810804b909ff2732ed808a451929efcc726d915199cde486c80e29829f72b69.png?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
<\/p>\nInside the round, puffed-up dough is a sweet filling made from rose petals or stewed plums. Polish p\u0105czki 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. P\u0105czki is the plural; a single one is called a p\u0105czek. Its bud-like shape lies behind the name.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 p\u0105czki that are cooled and dusted with powdered sugar and those that are glazed while still warm.<\/p>\n
Oil is added to a depth at which the dough floats without touching the bottom of the pan, and the p\u0105czki are fried on both sides at around 175\u00b0C, 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.<\/p>\n
Rose petal confiture adds a floral aroma, and powid\u0142a, 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.<\/p>\n
The Silesia region\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
P\u0105czki dough before proofing, before it is divided into small pieces and fried. Photo: Wolfcat-hybrid, 2025-03-01, location unknown. Original image<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the hosting source; no additional processing.<\/p>\n Old p\u0105czki 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.<\/p>\n J\u0119drzej Kitowicz, who wrote about 18th-century court culture, stated that compared with the firm p\u0105czki 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 p\u0105czki 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.<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s T\u0142usty 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 p\u0105czki brings good luck. Although p\u0105czki can be bought year-round, on this day lines form outside shops, and they become a pastry that symbolizes the season.<\/p>\n P\u0105czki 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 \u201cP\u0105czki Day.\u201d The custom spread as local events and bakeries\u2019 sales promotions combined with the practices of immigrants.<\/p>\n In Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, students at a local high school made trial batches of p\u0105czki as a way to help people learn about the city\u2019s 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. \u201cTsuruga P\u0105czki,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n P\u0105czki 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.<\/p>\n Osmotolerant yeast<\/strong>: Baker\u2019s yeast that ferments readily even in doughs high in sugar.<\/p> Spirytus<\/strong>: A high-proof distilled spirit. A small amount is added in some p\u0105czki formulas.<\/p> Confiture<\/strong>: A preserve made by cooking fruit, petals or similar ingredients with sugar.<\/p> Powid\u0142a<\/strong>: A Polish preserve made by cooking down plums or similar fruit until thick.<\/p> Glaze<\/strong>: A thin topping made mainly of sugar.<\/p> Lent and Ash Wednesday<\/strong>: Lent is the period of abstinence before Easter. In the Western Church, it begins on Ash Wednesday.<\/p> T\u0142usty Czwartek<\/strong>: Polish for \u201cFat Thursday.\u201d A day for enjoying fried pastries and other foods before Lent.<\/p> J\u0119drzej Kitowicz<\/strong>: An 18th-century Polish cleric and chronicler. He recorded daily life and meals in the era of Augustus III.<\/p> Hanukkah<\/strong>: A Jewish festival. There is a custom of eating dishes and pastries made with oil.<\/p> Sufganiyot<\/strong>: Round fried pastries eaten at Hanukkah in Israel and elsewhere. Jam-filled versions are widely known.<\/p> Fupo, \u201cThe Story Behind the Birth of Tsuruga P\u0105czki,\u201d January 20, 2025<\/a> \u2014 Interviews with the students and the producing bakery; trial batches and commercialization in 2024; the formula and fillings.<\/p>\n<\/li> Polish Ministry of Agriculture, \u201cPoznaj Polsk\u0105 \u017bywno\u015b\u0107\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Government publicity material describing the savory type enclosing fat or meat, the shift to sweet versions in the 16th century and yeast dough in the 17th century. The original documents of old recipes are not included.<\/p>\n<\/li> Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, \u201cT\u0142usty Czwartek i p\u0105czki okiem naukowc\u00f3w PAN\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Researchers at the Academy of Sciences explain the sweet fillings of the 16th century. The original cookbooks are not presented.<\/p>\n<\/li> P\u0105czki (Polish Doughnuts) Recipe | King Arthur Baking<\/a> \u2014 Dough containing egg yolks, butter and milk; adding butter in stages; two rises; cutting into circles; injecting the filling after frying; powdered sugar; osmotolerant yeast.<\/p>\n<\/li> P\u0105czki (przepis I) – Moje Wypieki<\/a> \u2014 Adding melted fat at the end of mixing; alcohol; shaping by hand; filling before and after frying; 175 degrees.<\/p>\n<\/li> P\u0105czki (przepis IV) – Moje Wypieki<\/a> \u2014 The white band and buoyancy; oil depth; only the outside browning when the oil is overheated; glazing while warm; a whole-egg formula.<\/p>\n<\/li> p\u0105czek (ciastko) – Wielki s\u0142ownik j\u0119zyka polskiego PAN<\/a> \u2014 The singular and plural forms p\u0105czek\/p\u0105czki, the resemblance in shape to a bud, and the definition as a spherical fried yeast pastry.<\/p>\n<\/li> Krepliki \/ kreple – Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi – Portal Gov.pl<\/a> \u2014 The region of kreple, powdered sugar, the unfilled type, and sales at events and on ordinary days.<\/p>\n<\/li> Kraple – Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi – Portal Gov.pl<\/a> \u2014 The name used in the Opole region, households that continue to fill before frying, glaze and rose.<\/p>\n<\/li> Fat Thursday: Poland\u2019s Tastiest Tradition | Article | Culture.pl<\/a> \u2014 Rose and plum; the Thursday event; the saying about good luck; the 18th century and the present; the North American Tuesday and sales promotions.<\/p>\n<\/li>From Savory to Sweet, from Firm Dough to Soft<\/h2>\n
Poland\u2019s \u201cFat Thursday\u201d and North America\u2019s \u201cP\u0105czki Day\u201d<\/h2>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/a85d0a4e260c30499e5d7f1cd5d5cea82b2b78d7bee0cdb1cced7d1b922355b8.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\n![\"P\u0105czki](\"https:\/\/ezb966kqson.exactdn.com\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/sweetlore-photos-20261028\/27e80eb0f65e47d1e2f4301c58e3fd2d4c1749d812b348a971dc2c3dba99d784.jpg?strip=all&quality=90&webp=92&avif=55&w=1920\")
\nTsuruga P\u0105czki and Local Memory<\/h2>\n
Fried Pastries of Jewish Communities and Hanukkah<\/h2>\n
Glossary<\/h2>\n
References<\/h2>\n
![Original image<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:P%C4%85czki_dough.png\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:A_queue_to_bakery_that_makes_p%C4%85czki_on_Fat_Thursday_in_Poland%2C_Gliwice%2C_Silesian_Voivodeship%2C_February_2022_(1).jpg\"){kind=link}
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Paczki.jpg\"){kind=link}