Valley Independent Sentinel

Here Come The Paczkis

by Tina Ugas | Feb 1, 2010 9:14 am

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Posted to: Ansonia

Ansonia —

It’s paczki making time!

Eddy’s Bake Shop at 317 Main St., started making paczki, a Polish holiday donut, during the first week of January.

Owners Michael and Paul Ciocca, twin brothers, will make paczki up until Easter. They are also planning to host their 12th annual paczki-eating contest Fat Tuesday on Feb. 16.

The Ciocca brothers who have owned the bakery 25 years. Paul Ciocca said he read about the tradition of paczki for Fat Tuesday in a bakery trade magazine.

Paczki’s is a Polish holiday treat that are a larger donut made with a heavier mixture. The Polish custom of making and eating paczki on Fat Tuesday stems from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy products before the fasting and abstinence during Lent.

However, both Paul and Micheal Ciocca said that the media exposure of the paczki eating contest has the opposite effect of the original purpose of the paczki.

“You’re not suppose to eat them during lent,” Paul Ciocca said. “But with the publicity, we sell a lot of them that time.”

So who eats the paczki that Eddy’s make before and during lent?

“Everybody,” Micheal Ciocca said. “A lot of people come in here and buy them and bring them to work.”

Micheal Ciocca said that many customers see the sale signs for paczki and then decide to try them.

The paczki at Eddy’s are significantly larger than their regular jelly donuts. They are three and half inches in diameter and weigh almost four ounces. Eddy’s jelly donuts are around a half inch smaller and weigh two ounces.

A daring Valley Independent writer sampled a freshly baked custard paczki and found it light tasting, doughy inside with a sweet smooth filling.

Paczki are filled with either prune, custard or jelly in flavors of black raspberry, strawberry, or lemon.

What flavor is sold the most during paczki time?

Custard.

Ciocca said that paczki are made at Eddys by combining flour, yeast, shortening, and butter. They are placed in a press and cut into 36 donuts. They are put on a screen and placed in a steamer to rise and then fried. After the donuts are fried, they are filled and then topped with either cinnamon sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or even left plain.

Nancy Korik, who has worked for the bakery for 21 years, says that only the Ciocca brothers bake the donuts. She sells them to the customers along with Micheal Barton, who has worked for the bakery 12 years. Both ladies say the bakery really picks up in sales during the season.

However, Eddy’s Bake Shop doesn’t keep track of how many they sell the entire season. Paul Ciocca said they sell between 90 to 100 dozen on Fat Tuesday alone.

Eddy’s Bake Shop can be reached at 203-735-0501 and more information is available at eddysbakeshop.net.

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