Broadway Market ★ 4.4
Broadway Market on the East Side has been Buffalo's Polish food anchor since 1888, with Chrusciki and White Eagle bakeries, Camellia Meats and pierogi.
History
Pączki are pan-Polish but the Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek) tradition is national, observed the last Thursday before Lent every February. Cukiernia Paradowski in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz, open since spring 1945, runs the city's most-photographed queue every year. The pre-war recipe came with Stefan Paradowski from Warsaw's Ziemiańska pastry shop in 1945, and the bakery still fries them in the original rendered lard. Rose-petal jam is the canonical filling; the modern menu rotates plum, custard and advocaat.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 60g caster sugar
- 10g instant dried yeast
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 180ml whole milk, warm
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 large whole egg
- 60ml dark rum or vodka (the alcohol stops fat absorption)
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 500ml lard, for frying (or neutral oil if lard is unavailable)
- 300g wild rose petal jam or thick plum butter (powidła), chilled
- 150g icing sugar, for the glaze
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Candied orange peel, finely diced, to finish
Method
- Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, salt and lemon zest in a stand mixer bowl.
- Whisk the warm milk with the yolks, whole egg and rum. Pour into the dry ingredients and knead on low for 8 minutes.
- Add the softened butter a piece at a time, kneading another 8 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Cover and prove until doubled, about 90 minutes.
- Knock back and divide into 16 pieces (about 55g each). Shape into tight balls and place on a floured tray. Cover and prove 45 minutes until puffy.
- Heat the lard to 170C in a deep wide pan. Slide paczki in 3 or 4 at a time, smooth-side down, and fry covered for 2 minutes.
- Flip and fry uncovered for 2 more minutes until deep gold all over and the equator shows a pale white ring.
- Drain on a rack. Cool 15 minutes.
- Fill a piping bag with rose jam fitted with a long thin nozzle. Pierce each paczek from the side and pipe in 1 1/2 tsp of jam.
- Whisk the icing sugar with the lemon juice to a smooth, pourable glaze. Spoon over the top of each paczek and finish with a sprinkle of candied orange peel.
Tip from the editors. Frying covered for the first 2 minutes gives the white ring around the middle, the visual mark of a real paczek. Frying at 170C, not hotter, keeps the inside cooked through.
Where to eat paczki
Paczki in Buffalo
Paula's Donuts (Williamsville) ★ 4.5
Paula's Donuts at the Williamsville Main Street shop fries oversized sour-cream and yeast donuts daily, a Western New York obsession with morning lines.
Worth the queue: Sour-cream glazed donut
Paula's Donuts (Sheridan Drive) ★ 4.4
Paula's Donuts on Sheridan Drive in Tonawanda is the original location of the Buffalo-area oversized donut chain, with Texas-sized sour-cream glazed.
Worth the queue: Sour-cream glazed
Paczki in Cleveland
Presti's Bakery ★ 4.7
Presti's Bakery on Mayfield Road in Little Italy since 1903, one of Cleveland's oldest bakeries, anchors the Cleveland-style cassata cake tradition.
Worth the queue: Cassata cake
Corbo's Bakery ★ 4.6
Corbo's Bakery on Mayfield Road in Little Italy since 1958, the family-owned bakery known for cassata cake and cannoli, has expanded to a full Italian menu.
Worth the queue: Cassata cake
Michael Angelo's Bakery ★ 4.4
Michael Angelo's Bakery on Broadview Road in Broadview Heights, an Italian-American bakery since 2000, runs cassata cake, cannoli and a 2026 spring food menu.
Worth the queue: Cassata cake
Paczki in Detroit
New Palace Bakery ★ 4.7
New Palace Bakery on Joseph Campau in Hamtramck has baked Polish paczki and pastries in metro Detroit since 1908. At 9833 Joseph Campau Ave.
Tip: On Paczki Day before Lent the line wraps the block. Open until midnight that Tuesday.
Worth the queue: Paczki on Fat Tuesday
Srodek's Campau Quality Sausage ★ 4.5
Srodek's Campau Quality Sausage is family-run polish deli on joseph campau, neighborhood-only crowd; pierogi in the freezer case are the deep cut.
Why locals love it: Family-run Polish deli on Joseph Campau, neighborhood-only crowd; pierogi in the freezer case are the deep cut.
Tip: Pierogi by the dozen frozen; smoked kielbasa is the Easter and Christmas Eve staple.
Paczki in Gdańsk
Cukiernia Paradowski ★ 4.6
Cukiernia Paradowski in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz is the city's oldest active confectionery, opened spring 1945 by Stefan Paradowski. Son Andrzej still runs the shop.
Tip: On Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek, the last Thursday before Lent), the queue stretches down Wajdeloty.
Worth the queue: Pączki on Fat Thursday
Pellowski Piekarnia Cukiernia Kawiarnia ★ 4.2
Pellowski in Gdańsk is the family bakery on Długa, with branches across the city. Open mon-sat 06:30-19:00, sun 08:00-15:00. At ul. Długa 40.
Tip: The Długa branch fills fast at lunchtime; the larger Słupska Street store is calmer.
Worth the queue: Poppy-seed bread
Cukiernia Le Delice ★ 4.5
Le Delice in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz works a tight cukiernia-piekarnia format on Partyzantów. Croissants out of the oven about 09:30; the chocolate ones go fastest.
Tip: Croissants out of the oven about 09:30; the chocolate ones go fastest.
Worth the queue: All-butter croissant
More cities are in research. Want paczki covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.