These doughnuts are a traditional Romanian dessert better known in the US as Paczki. I guess each European country has it’s recipe and they are all delicious; I’ve tasted them as paczki, beignets, berliner. When I bite into one I can see myself in my grandmother’s kitchen waiting for them to be ready so I can indulge. They are best when served warm and nothing beats a home-made doughnut.
If you have them plain, the way you tell they came out right is that they have a big air pocket inside and I remember always asking my grandmother how do they come out with that air pocket inside. The answer was always the same – The air pocket comes with the age. The truth is, there is probably no grandmother in Romania that does not master this recipe, so I really trust my grandma is correct.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups flour (4 to start the dough and 2 extra for kneading and when rolling the dough)
- 1/3 cups sugar
- ¼ cups melted butter
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 TBS dry yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 TBSP rum
- 1 TBS oil
- 1 TBS vanilla essence
- 1 1/2 cups warm milk
- 1/2 cups sparkling water
- lemon zest from 1 lemon
- oil for frying the doughnuts
- Confectioner’s sugar to dust the doughnuts
- Optional for Paczki and Berliners – jam, nutella
Preparation:
- In a bowl mix the yeast with 2-3 TBS flour and 1/2 cups warm milk, set aside to rise (1)
- Using an electric mixer combine the egg yolks, salt, and sugar (2)
- Add (1) and (2) mixtures over 4 cups of flour and start kneading the dough, add the rest of the milk gradually. Add the vanilla and sparkling water. Keep kneading the dough for 2-3 minutes until everything is well combined. (you can also use an electric mixer with the hook attachment to knead)
- Add the melted butter, the oil, lemon zest and rum and knead the dough until everything is incorporated
- Make the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl (use more flour if it’s too sticky), Dust flour over the dough, cover it and let it rise for about 1 hour
- Once it doubled its size, punch it down and knead the dough for a couple more minutes
- Roll the dough in a ½” thick sheet
- Take a glass or a large round cookie cutter and cut the dough in round shapes
- Heat oil and fry the doughnuts until golden on each side (frying should be done over low-medium heat so the doughnuts don’t burn)
- Drain on paper towel and dust with confectioner’s sugar
Optional you can fill the doughnuts with jam or nutella. To fill them you poke a hole on the side and pipe the jam or nutell inside.
ENJOY warm!