Name and pronunciation: pączki z różą [punch-key z roo-Jean; “Jean” prononuced in a French way]
Description: doughnuts with rose filling
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I love Polish doughnuts! They are absolutely delicious, not too sweet and much less dense than many other types of doughnuts. Also, they are always in a shape of balls and most often with lovely filling inside. They resemble berliners, but are more delicate inside. The most traditional type of Polish doughnuts is one with a rose jam filling and topped with thick glaze and candied orange peel.
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10 doughnuts • Preparation time: about 45 minutes • Resting time: 1 hours plus 30 minutes • Frying time: about a minute for each doughnut
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Tips:
01
Make sure you use enough flour for dusting your doughnuts before proofing. They will be very delicate and you do not want them to stick.
02
When placing your risen doughnut in the oil, handle them very gently. They need to stay perfectly round and fluffy.
03
While I absolutely love my doughnuts with a filling, my family prefer plain doughnuts, only glazed. It is perfectly fine, they will be lovely either way!
04
Every rose is edible, but you should never ever consume commercial roses from flower shops. They are treated with many chemicals and are never safe to eat. You can get dry rose buds in Asian shops or health stores, in a tea section. Simply remove the green parts and add the rest to the fruit.
05
You can mix the glaze with a spoon, but I like using a blender to make it super smooth.
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Ingredients:
Doughnuts:
✽ 2 cups all-purpose flour
✽ ½ cup warm milk
✽ 2 yolks
✽ 1 egg
✽ 35 g butter
✽ 4 tablespoons vanilla sugar
✽ 7 g dry yeast
✽ ⅓ teaspoon salt
Filling:
✽ 4 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen)
✽ 4 tablespoons sugar
✽ 10 rose petals
✽ dash rosewater (can be replaced with plain water)
Lemon glaze:
✽ 2 cups powder sugar
✽ lemon juice
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Method:
01
Melt butter in a small pot and set aside to cool.
02
Meanwhile, beat the yolks with the egg with vanilla sugar until they are very fluffy and almost white.
03
Sift flour with salt into a mixing bowl. Add milk, yeast and eggs beaten with sugar, and gently mix.
05
Knead for about 15 minutes. The dough will be very sticky at first, but dusting the worktop with some flour will do the trick.
06
After 15 minutes, add melted, cooled butter and keep kneading. It seems like there is too much moisture at first, but keep kneading. Soon you will end up with a perfect, smooth dough. Keep going for another 15 minutes.
07
Cover and place in a warm place to raise for about an hour.
08
Use this time to make a filling. Making the filling is super easy. In a small saucepan, place strawberries, add a dash of rosewater, rose petals and sugar. Start with about 4 tablespoons of sugar and add more if you need to. Simmer on low heat and keep stirring every so often, so it doesn’t burn. Stop when the filling is nicely thick. Cool.
09
After an hour, you dough should be twice the size. Knead a little bit to let the air out and roll out on a worktop. Cut about 10 circles with a cake cutter or roll into 10 equal balls. You can weigh the dough portions to make sure they are the same. Dust with flour generously, cover with a tea towel and place on a flat surface to proof. Keep them quite far from each other, they will raise significantly.
10
Now, it is time to deep-fry them. I like using a wok for it. Heat up enough oil to cover a half of your doughnuts. The oil should be hot enough to sizzle when you place your doughnuts, but they should not brown too fast or they will burn. Gently place about 3 doughnuts in the oil and fry. When the bottom side is nicely browned, flip them using a straining spoon. Continue with the rest.
11
When brown on both sides, it is time to remove them from oil and place on a cooling rack.
12
If you choose to add filling, you need to do it when your doughnuts are just cool enough to handle, or the filling will not have enough space inside. You can either use a piping bag with a special, long tip, or simply get a syringe (the largest size). Pierce each doughnut on a side (the light ring is the softest part) and inject a portion of the filling to the middle of your doughnuts.
13
When cooled completely, cover with lemon glaze. To make glaze, simply add lemon juice to the sugar few drops at the time and mix energetically. Powder sugar mixes with the smallest amount of liquid and you need your glaze very thick, so be careful not to add too much juice at once. Dip doughnuts in gaze and sprinkle with finely grated lemon peel before the glaze sets.
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Enjoy!
Our Eastern Kitchen 