Polish Doughnuts (Paczki)

Ingredients
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp softened unsalted butter
- ½ cup warm whole milk
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Enough oil for deep frying (see notes)
- Roughly 2½ cups jelly, jam, or custard, for filling (optional)
- Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Steps
- Whisk sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, salt and eggs. Whisk in yeast.
- Stir continuously while adding flour ½ cup at a time until mixture is firm dough.
- Knead about 5 min. Return to bowl. Cover. Rise in warm place about 1½ hours until doubled.
- Pat dough on lightly floured surface. Roll to about ½ inch thick. Cut out circles. Re-roll excess to cut more.
- Rise rounds about 30 min until doubled.
- Heat oil to about 350°F in deep pot or pan.
- Fry a few pączki at a time until golden-brown. Flip to fry both sides; they are only half submerged.
- Cool. Spoon fruit jelly, jam or custard into pastry bag with long, narrow point. Fill pączki by pushing point into sides.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar on top to taste.
Notes from the original
- Any oil that can withstand the required 350°F should work for frying. Butter, coconut oil, hemp seed oil, flaxseed oil, and some varieties of olive oil have smoke points at or below that temperature and should not be used. The exact amount of oil needed will depend largely on the size of the pot or pan you use. You should have enough that the pączki are able to float freely without touching the bottom or sides of the container. If you do not have enough oil, try downsizing to a smaller pot.
- Possibly depending on the warmth of the butter or milk, the butter might not fully mix with the other ingredients during procedure step 1. This doesn't seem to have much impact on the final product.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Polish Doughnuts (Paczki)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-10-26, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Pączki final product.png by Wolfcat-hybrid, CC0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






