So I scoured the internet looking for a baked paczki (poonchki) recipe and didn’t find any. Every single one called for deep fat frying. And while I am all about anything deep fat fried, I decided to try to get a lightened version. This is where I got the base of my recipe:
So the only problem I encountered is that my dough hardly rose at all. Here’s how it looked right after being kneaded in the stand mixer for a few minutes. I really really liked the texture of this dough.
As I was re-reading her recipe this morning, I caught my fatal error. The instructions said to stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk, and I believe I added the (melted) butter directly to the yeast/milk mixture, thereby killing the yeast with the melted butter. Damnit! So the result of these paczki is not a donut, but more like a sweet bread/cake texture? So while Tony and I thought they were good, not exactly what I was hoping to achieve!
I am still going to take them to work though! I will suggest they either put them in the toaster oven to crisp up, or put in the microwave for a chewy donut. So I will definitely try this again and will follow Heidi’s instructions to a T next time! I guess it helps to read ALL the words!
Happy Fat Tuesday – see you at lunch.
Okay, I’m going to be waiting with bated breath for next year’s adaptation…we moved away from our favorite paczki bakery last year and haven’t found a local one we like, so I am going to have to learn to make the things, but I don’t think I can bring myself to deep fry anything…
Thank you for this!
Even if they aren’t quite perfect, they still look good. Can’t go wrong with a healty donut 😀 And I agree, 101 Cookbooks is an awesome site!
OMG my brother sent me this exact “Paczki” reminder. We’re 100% Polish.
Happy Fat Tuesday right back at you! I don’t care what you say your donuts look fantastic. You yeast murderer you!
ooh, paczki 🙂 i have yet to make my own!
well, regardless of the texture, that “donut” looks incredible. i can’t believe you made it by hand! it’s perfect!
Well, they still look incredible, even despite any misreading of the recipe! If they are too dense to eat, you could always use them in French onion soup or as breadcrumbs, so there will be no waste.
they look so lovely!!! I’m sure next time you’ll make perfect baked donuts! 😀
If I was more adventurous in baking I would really like to make these!
They look great!
Charlie, did Rachel’s cookies turn out totally flat??
Biz, I would still have eaten them anyway, they look really good!
You had me at 2 WW points, those look DELICIOUS!
These look award winning
Only 2 points?! thats crazy! 🙂
they still lok absolutely amazingggg! ah yummmm
Even though there was an error they still sound amazing! Well done 🙂
These look great. Thanks for sharing.
I LOVE 101 Cookbooks. Have seen that recipe but haven’t tried it yet- I’m so glad that you’re going to try it again even if it didn’t work exactly as you hoped; the experimentation process is so much fun.
I feel so silly but I’ve never heard of those! They look amazing! 😉
they look awesome!
Wow, your food stuff looks great. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Looks like I’ll be stopping by yours more often. Those look yummy.
Oh my gosh they look delicious even if they weren’t exactly what you were going for they sure do look good!
They still sound delicious!
These still look awesome, even if they didn’t turn out right! I think I’m going to have to make these, since all the news is talking about today are paczkis!
Rachel’s fatal baking error on Saturday was putting 3 cups of flour into the cookie batter. Only to realize later that she was using the 1/2-cup measure not the 1-cup measure. Half the flour makes for some interesting “cookies.”
That’s a bummer. If it makes her feel any better, I’ve baked cupcakes without sugar and made bread leaving out the yeast!!
Whether they are more like bread or donuts…I think they look amazing! Wish I had one right now to go with my coffee!