Paczki Day arrives

The arrival of Fat Tuesday today is a doughnut eater's delight and a boon to bakeries whose cooks have been hard at work making the popular paczki goodies.

Elizabeth and Marek Baginski, who have owned Utica Heights Bakery in Utica with their children for the past 22 years, say there's always a demand for the jelly-filled pastry this time of year.

"We've been selling paczki since last Tuesday and it won't stop until Wednesday," Elizabeth Baginski said. "We sold 300 dozen on Saturday and will sell a lot more on Paczki Day."

While many people in New Orleans celebrate Mardi Gras with beads, beignets and Cajun-style foods, people in the northern communities of Detroit, Buffalo, New York and Chicago celebrate Fat Tuesday by eating paczki, kielbasa, golombki and pierogi.

Fat Tuesday is the feast of plenty before the Catholic Lenten season begins with 40 days of sacrifice. Paczki Day is celebrated by eating the super-sized mounds of doughy goodness as a last treat before fasting begins. The paczki carry 25 grams of fat and 425 calories.

At the Utica Heights Bakery, Marek Baginski expects to sell more than 2,000 dozen paczki total. The bakery was loaded Monday with boxes of paczki from the floor to ceiling.

In Hamtramck, many businesses highlight Paczki Day. Luncheons last into the early hours of the afternoon and many of the Polish and Catholic clubs, restaurants and bars on Joseph Campau and Conant streets sponsor contests that include paczki eating with plenty of Polish music.

The American-Polish Century Club in Troy offers paczki with every meal.

Al Harb, who has owned Golden Donuts on Harper in Clinton Township for the past 20 years, said there aren't enough hours in a day to make the number of paczki his customers crave.

Harb, who is of Arabic descent, says he has a recipe that will rival that of any Polish baker. He said his recipe is special because it has a secret ingredient.

"No one sells paczki like I do," said Harb.

He said he will have sold more than 24,000 dozen paczki when the doors close tonight.

Elizabeth Baginski said her bakery also has a special recipe. But her basic baking routine for paczki goes as follows: Her son, Kris, starts with high-glucose flour, eggs, water, cake flour, sugar, salt, shortening, milk power and mixes it all in a large, metal bowl for 10 minutes.

The dough then is taken out of the bowl and put on a large table where it is allowed to rise for 10 minutes. Kris then cuts the dough into 5-pound balls and puts those in a machine that cuts the dough into softball-size balls.

Marek Baginski said his son then takes the balls and puts them on frying sheets and places them into a steam box for one-half hour. The dough rises again.

Kris Baginski said he then fries the balls of paczki for five minutes and then takes them out and lets the shortening drop off. He said the paczki are filled with fruit and custard fillings while warm.

"We then glaze them with sugar or powder," he said.

And don't forget to order correctly: A single is called a paczek (pohn-check), while more than one is called paczki (punch-key). We recommend getting more than one.


Source: macombdaily.com