How a Northwest Side Bakery Churns Out 40,000 Paczki

Chicagoans are lining up outside of bakeries across the city right now to get paczki — Polish deep-fried balls of dough filled with jam, custard, or other fillings — for Fat Tuesday. That includes Delightful Pastries in Jefferson Park, which has churned out about 40,000 paczki for the holiday.

Owner and chef Dobra Bielinski gave us a peek into Paczki Day madness.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the difference between paczki and doughnuts?

“[Paczki] dough is not very sweet. You glaze it when it's hot so the glaze is very thin. You add butter, eggs, and milk to the dough, which doughnuts don’t have. You add lemon oil, spiced rum, vanilla, and orange oil, so it just gives it an amazing flavor. Doughnuts typically use water, flour, yeast, salt, and sugar — unless it's like a buttermilk doughnut.

Delightful Pastries opened in 1998. What Paczki Day trends have you seen over time?

“People don't want to have a PhD in biology and chemistry to read ingredients. … I also see that a lot more people are eating gluten-free. I [also] traditionally have made pastries with less sugar in them, and that's been a trend.”

“A lot of bakeries make doughnuts and then on Fat Tuesday, they just call them paczki. And it just irks me to no end because it's like making Chicago pizza with Swiss cheese, anchovies, and eggs.”

Why have Chicagoans embraced Paczki Day?

“We're a little bit milder mannered, we're a little bit more accepting of other cultures and we take what's best of other cultures and we kind of integrate it into our social atmosphere.”