Plenty of paczkis for Fat Tuesday
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ESCANABA -- Today is Fat Tuesday, and many people in the area are celebrating by indulging in sweet treats -- including paczki -- a type of deep-fried pastry that originated in Poland and is associated with the occasion.
Art Ziebell, bakery manager at Elmer's County Market, said Fat Tuesday is one of the bakery's busiest days annually.
"For donuts, it is the busiest day of the year," he said.
He noted demand is largely due to the fact paczki sales at Elmer's are limited.
"We sell our paczki one day of the year," he said.
Since the bakery at Elmer's County Market produces many other baked goods each day, Ziebell said it cannot focus exclusively on making paczki. Because of this, the amount of paczki it can prepare each year is limited.
"We limit ours right around 5,000 to 6,000," he said.
Paczki production at Elmer's begins with the making of "shells" for the pastries.
"We have to do it a week in advance," Ziebell said. The bakery produces between 800 and 1,000 shells each day. The process of glazing and filling paczki begins at Elmer's the day before Fat Tuesday and continues into Fat Tuesday itself.
Ziebell thanked the bakery's other employees for their hard work at this time of year.
"The crew really steps up their game," he said.
At the Donut Connection in Escanaba, owner Terri Skradski said she expects to sell "thousands" of paczki today.
"It just keeps getting bigger every year," she said, noting the store had received many pre-orders for the pastries as of Monday morning. Like Elmer's, the Donut Connection makes its paczki from scratch and only sells them on Fat Tuesday.
Paczki have been sold at the Donut Connection for well over a decade, Skradski said.
"I came up with … my own recipe she said. The Donut Connection still uses this recipe while making dough for paczki today.
The store makes dough for paczki in 50-pound batches. Additionally, 500 pounds of glaze were prepared for paczki at the Donut Connection this year.
Though the Donut Connection is focusing on paczki Tuesday, its regular items are available, as well.
"Some people just don't care for the paczki, so we do both," Skradski said.
According to Skradski, approximately 15 people are working at the Donut Connection today. In contrast, four employees normally work at the store each day.
Some of the people working at the Donut Connection today are former employees.
"I have girls that come back from 10, 15 years ago," Skradski said.
Skradski voiced her appreciation of the people working at her store for helping the Donut Connection make it through Fat Tuesday each year.
"It's a lot of work and a lot of fun," she said.