Choice Morsel: International Doughnut Culture, Part 2

Discover the power of the paczki — available only two weeks out of the year.

text and photography by Tracy Schneider

 
William Leaman, owner of West Seattle’s Bakery Nouveau, bakes paczki.    

If you popped into Metropolitan Market yesterday morning, you may have noticed a new selection of perfectly round, glazed and filled doughnuts, neatly arranged in the bakery case. If you passed them up only to return later to pick up a few, as I did, you’d have been disappointed. They had sold out hours earlier.

Such is the power of paczki.

Paczki (pronounced “pooch-key”) are Polish glazed and filled doughnuts that date back to the Middle Ages. Traditionally, they created a way for households to use up the sugar and fat in their cupboards before Lent, explains William Leaman, head baker and owner of West Seattle’s Bakery Nouveau. They also offered a way for bakeries to use up their candied fruits left over from Christmas baking. Chef Leaman’s recipe was passed down to him from a chef who made paczki from a family recipe that dated back to the 1930s.

Paczki dough is much richer than a typical doughnut, and Bakery Nouveau’s version contains more egg yolks, more sugar, plus lots of candied orange peel. Each paczki is filled with the Bakery’s own luscious crémeux custard, be it chocolate or lemon, strawberry or raspberry, and then thickly glazed or covered in powdered sugar.

While paczki are well known in the Midwest, where people buy dozens at a time to share, they only arrived in Seattle last year. Find them now at Bakery Nouveau and Metropolitan Market, but don’t tarry. They sell out in a flash, and they’re here for a limited time only.

Tracy Schneider, a “foodie” long before the term was coined, scours farmers markets, specialty food shops and out-of-the-way eateries for the choice morsel. She has eaten her way across Europe and Asia and now forages in and around the Pacific Northwest. Follow her weekly on the CAB and daily on Twitter.