Pączki

Instructions

1. 1 Dissolve the yeast in warm milk with a pinch of sugar. Let stand five minutes until foamy. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with sugar until thick and pale. Add the softened butter, rum, orange zest, and the yeast mixture. Gradually add the flour and salt, mixing into a soft dough.
2. 2 Knead the dough vigorously for fifteen minutes until it becomes extremely smooth, elastic, and slightly glossy. This extensive kneading develops the gluten structure that gives paczki their characteristic light, pillowy texture rather than being dense and heavy.
3. 3 Place the dough in a buttered bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let rise in a warm place for one and a half hours until doubled in size. The dough should be puffy, airy, and spring back slowly when poked with a flour-dusted finger.
4. 4 Punch down the risen dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to about one and a half centimetres thick. Cut rounds using a nine-centimetre cutter. Place a teaspoon of jam in the centre of half the rounds, brush edges with water, and press a second round on top, sealing firmly.
5. 5 Place the filled doughnuts on a parchment-lined tray, cover loosely, and let rise for thirty minutes until puffy and nearly doubled. They should look plump and the seams should have smoothed out. Meanwhile, heat oil to 170C in a large deep pot.
6. 6 Fry the paczki two to three at a time for three minutes per side. They should be deep golden brown with a pale band around the middle where the dough expanded during frying. The interior should be fully cooked, light, and airy with a pocket of jam.
7. 7 Drain on a wire rack and dust generously with powdered sugar while still warm, or top with a thin sugar icing once cooled. Paczki are traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday before Lent in Poland, when bakeries across the country sell millions.