Overnight Pączki with Homemade Plum Powidła

Method

1. Start with the plum butter. Cut the plums into 1 cm pieces and put them in a 18 cm pot with the sugar, cinnamon and part of the lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 min, until the plums collapse. Uncover, lower to low heat and cook for 12 min, scraping the bottom often, until a spoon drawn across the base leaves a trail that stays for 2 seconds. Blend smooth, cool completely and chill. If it is runny, it will leak out of the doughnuts.

   Add in this stepRipe plums, stoned 300 gSugar (for the plum butter) 40 gGround cinnamon 2 pinchLemon juice 0.9 tsp

   medium heat→low heat

2. Warm the milk in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds, to lukewarm (about 37 °C). Put all the dough ingredients except the butter in a large bowl (flour, milk, yeast, yolks, sugar, salt, vanilla, orange zest and rum) and knead for 12 min. Then knead in the soft butter a little at a time for 6 min more. Stretch a small piece between your fingers: when it forms a thin, translucent sheet without tearing, the gluten is fully developed.

   Add in this stepBread flour 150 gMilk 70 mlInstant dried yeast 3 gEgg yolks 2Sugar (for the dough) 25 gSalt 1 pinchVanilla extract ½ tspOrange (finely grated zest only) ½Rum or vodka 1 tspButter, softened 35 g

3. Cover and leave at room temperature for 45 min to get the yeast going, then refrigerate for at least 8 h (up to 18 hours). The slow, cold rise deepens the flavour, and the chilled dough, with its butter firm, is much easier to shape.

4. Weigh the cold dough into 4 × 55 g pieces. Round them into tight balls, put each on an 8 cm square of baking paper and press to 2 cm thick. Cover with a cloth and prove somewhere warm for 1 h; cold dough needs longer. When they are about one and a half times bigger and a dent springs back slowly, uncover them for 5 minutes before frying so the surface dries slightly. That thin skin gives the sharp pale ring around the middle.

5. Pour the oil into a deep 20 cm pot, at least 5 cm deep but no more than one third of the pot's height, and heat over medium-high heat for about 9 min, using a thermometer to hit exactly 170 °C. Keep wet utensils away, turn the pot handle inwards and keep a lid within reach. If the oil smokes, turn off the heat.

   Add in this stepOil for frying (e.g. sunflower) 0.9 L

   medium-high heat

6. Slide the doughnuts in on their paper, top side down and away from you, and pull the paper out with tongs after a few seconds. Fry in 2 batches, for 4 min per batch over medium heat, turning only once, exactly halfway. Watch the thermometer and keep the oil between 165 and 175 °C, letting it return to 170 °C before each batch. Lift onto a rack when deep golden brown on both sides with a pale ring around the middle.

   medium heat

7. Stir the icing sugar with the rest of the lemon juice to the consistency of runny honey and brush it thinly over the tops while the doughnuts are still warm, then scatter with the orange peel. Applied warm, the icing sets thin and translucent. After 5 minutes, make a hole in the side with a chopstick and pipe in the cold plum butter until each one feels heavy.

   Add in this stepIcing sugar 50 gLemon juice 2⅛ tspCandied orange peel, finely chopped 10 g