Greg Smurawa and his bakery staff put in extra hours in the days leading up to Lent.
They needed to for Smurawa’s Country Bakery’s annual Paczki Day, otherwise known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.
“We sell them every day of the year, but this is of course our busiest time,” Smurawa said. “We used to fill them by hand, but now we use a machine.”
That’s probably a good thing, considering pre-orders and Paczki Day sales will number more than 30,000.
“We sell between 30,000 and 36,000,” he said. “We don’t aim for a number. Some of it is weather dependent. If it’s nice, people will make the drive to pick up their pre-orders or buy from the display case.”
Customers will travel from throughout Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and even Illinois for the authentic Polish doughnuts.
Smurawa’s Country Bakery is located at 204 E. Pulaski St., Pulaski. The bakery offers an old-fashioned bakery experience with fresh-baked, made-from-scratch baked goods. A large seating area combined with an in-house coffee shop makes any visit special and enjoyable.
Paczki, a Polish pastry made by four generations of the Smurawa family for more than 90 years, is the main attraction on Paczki Day.
Featured flavors available now are raspberry, strawberry, cherry, blueberry, prune, lemon, apple, plain, poppyseed, French creme, chocolate French creme, cream cheese, peanut butter French creme, double chocolate and custard.
How are paczki different from donuts? There are some minor differences in the recipe that separate it from a jelly doughnut. But one of the big keys is the amount and type of filling used. Paczki fillings tend to be closer to pie filling than jelly. They’re also loaded to capacity.
Regardless of the flavor, there is a correct way to pronounce the beloved pastry.The correct pronunciation is “poonch-kee.”
While the proper spelling is “pączki,” getting a U.S. keyboard to make a Polish “ą” can be tricky. So, it’s most often spelled with a standard English “a.”
Also, “paczki” is technically the plural form of the singular “pączek.” However, it’s gotten to the point where the plural “paczki” is used interchangeably as both the singular and plural.
“We don’t care how you pronounce it, as long as you buy it from here,” said Smurawa, whose personal favorites are cherry and custard.
Raspberry and prune flavors are the best sellers, while French creme is also very popular.
The business itself started in 1998. They started making paczki in 1999. For the first five years come Paczki Day, Smurawa would load up his car with the pastries and make his rounds to the area newspapers, radio stations and TV stations to promote sales.
“It kind of grew from there,” he said. “Before we made them, you couldn’t get authentic paczki in this area. There may have been some in Stevens Point, but otherwise, you had to go to Milwaukee or Chicago.”
Smurawa said there are a lot of imposters when it comes to paczki.
Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re getting authentic paczki just because it’s in a red and white box with the word “PACZKI” on it in all capital letters.
That box is a trademark of Omer J. Smith Inc. and refers to the boxes themselves and not the pastries inside. The namesake boxes have been around since 1993.
On Paczki Day, the bakery has 15-25 employees and volunteers serving customers. Some are former employees and family members who take the day off from their regular job to serve up the pastries and share a few smiles with the customers.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
Samantha Smurawa fills another box of paczki at Smurawa’s Country Bakery in Pulaski. The authentic Polish pastries are a staple prior to Lent, just like pumpkin pies are for Thanksgiving. The bakery sells more than 30,000 paczki at this time of the year. (Kevin Passon | NEW Media)
More than 30,000 paczki are served every year at this time at Smurawa’s Country Bakery in Pulaski. The pastries are sold at the bakery every day of the year in more than a dozen flavors, with raspberry and prune being the most popular. (Kevin Passon | NEW Media)
