Polish Doughnuts Recipes

Steps:

• Scald milk and allow to cool to lukewarm, add yeast and stir.
• Beat sugar and butter until fluffy, add eggs, salt, vanilla and mace.
• Add flour and yeast-milk gradually, beating well.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.
• Punch down and let rise again.
• Roll out dough, on a floured surface, 3/4 inch thick.
• Cut out 1 1/2 inch circles.
• Top half of the circles with 1 tsp jam, cover with the remaining circles and seal edges.
• Heat oil mixed with 1 tbls water to 375°F.
• Fry, turning once, to a medium golden brown.
• Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with sugar.

Steps:

• SPONGE:.
• Dissolve crushed yeast in lukewarm milk, sift in flour, add sugar.
• Mix, cover, and let stand in warm place to rise.
• Beat egg yolks with powdered sugar and vanilla sugar until fluffy.
• Sift flour into bowl, add sponge (yeast mixture), egg mixture, and grain alcohol or rum.
• Knead well until dough is smooth and glossy.
• Gradually add melted lukewarm butter and continue kneading dough until it no longer clings to hands and bowl and air blisters appear.
• Cover with cloth and let rise in warm place until doubled.
• Punch dough down and let it rise again. Transfer dough to floured board, sprinkle top with flour, and roll out about 1/2" inch thick.
• With glass or biscuit-cutter, cut into rounds.
• Arrange on floured board and proceed in either of the following ways:.
• SMALL PACZKI:.
• Place a spoonful of fruit filling (rose-hip preserves, cherry preserves, or other thick jam) off center on each round.
• Raise edges of dough and pinch together over filling, then roll between palms snowball fashion to form balls.
• Let rise in warm place until doubled.
• LARGE PACZKI:.
• Place a spoonful of fruit filling as above on only 1/2 dough rounds, cover each with another round, pinch edges together, and roll between palms to form a ball.
• Let rise until doubled in warm, draft-free place.
• Heat 1 1/2-2 lbs. lard in deep pan so paczki can float freely during frying.
• It is hot enough when a small piece of dough dropped into hot fat immediately floats up.
• Fry paczki without crowding several minutes until nicely browned on bottom, then turn over and fry on other side another 3 minutes or so.
• NOTE:.
• If using electric fryer, set temperature at 360-375 degrees.
• If frying in stove-top pan and fat begins to burn, add several slices of peeled raw potato which will both lower the temperature and absorb the burnt flavor.
• Paczki may also be fried in oil, but lard produces the tastiest results.
• If you are cutting down on animal fats, you can compromise by using a lard and oil combination.
• Transfer fried paczki to absorbent paper and set aside to cool.
• When cool, dust generously with powdered sugar, glaze or icing.
• RECIPES USING EGG WHITES:.
• Fat-Free, Sugar-Free & Cholesterol-Free Banana Bread! Recipe #45394.
• Angel Food Cake Recipe #12591.
• Fruit pies with meringue topping.

Steps:

• Mix crumbled yeast cake in lukewarm milk. Add the smaller amount of flour & set to rise in a warm place, covered with warm cloth, 20-25 minutes.
• Stir butter, lemon rind (optional) sugar, mace or nutmeg & salt together.
• Add the warm flour & egg yolks.
• Mix this with yeast sponge & add enough lukewarm milk to make a dough as thick as bread dough.
• Add butter, melted & cooled, & beat thoroughly for 10-15 minutes or until bubbles appear on surface of dough.
• Cover& allow to rise about 20 minutes, then mix it lightly again.
• Flour a board & take out small portions at a time.
• Roll out to 1/3-inch thickness & cut in 2 to 2- 1/2 inch rounds.
• For filling, use prune jam, marmalade or jelly.
• Place filling in center of each dough round, leaving enough space around filling to press down & top round.
• Wet edges before doing this.
• Close edges tightly but do not spread dough out too large, trim edges again with cutter.
• Lay on floured board to rise for about 1 hour or more.
• They must be about twice their thickness.
• Cover with warm cloth.
• FRY in deep hot fat (360-370°F )& when golden brown on both sides, drain & sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Steps:

• To make the leaven, mix the yeast with the sugar and flour, and stir in the warm milk. Set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes.
• For the dough, put egg yolks into a heatproof bowl and add the sugar and vanilla sugar. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until smooth and thick.
• Sift the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the beaten yolks and the warm cream, mix thoroughly, then add a pinch of salt and the leaven. Bring together to make a dough and knead for 10 minutes (or 15-20 if doing this by hand).
• When the dough stops sticking to your hands, pour in the cooled melted butter and knead for a few more minutes. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for at least 1 hr-1 hr 30 mins.
• Mix the jam with the ground almonds and spoon into a piping bag or jam syringe. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and shape them into doughnuts. Cover and leave to rise for 30 mins.
• Fill a deep pan or a deep fat fryer one third full of oil or melted lard and heat it until it is 180C - if you don't have a thermometer, drop in a small chunk of bread. The oil is ready when it browns in about 30 secs. Add the doughnuts and fry, turning them once for about 1-2 mins on each side (a thin lighter ring should form in the middle). After removing, drain the doughnuts of excess fat on some kitchen paper.
• Mix the icing sugar, lemon juice and almond essence, adding some water if you need to thin the icing. When the doughnuts have cooled a little, pipe in the jam mixture and glaze them in the icing and sprinkle with the chopped almonds.