I have tried this recipe, twice.
Both times I have only added between 4 1/2 and 5 cups of flour to dough, so it's not tough.
Great recipe after all, and very simple.

Hi Robert,

Thank you for taking the time to let us know your results! I was wondering if you'd sifted your flour? Sifting can make a big difference in the measurements. But the best way to make doughs is always just to judge the consistency, adding more or less flour as needed. Happy to hear this worked for you; I made a note on the recipe.

-- CM

I always sift flour unless it's ciabatta bread. Yes I agree with; using your own judgement, but many people do not know what consistency they have to have. I think it is always better to add flours than be too tough with no options.

These paczki turned out lighter and moister than the old world recipe handed down by my family.The "sponge" method worked well. I used 1.5 tsp of salt - 1.5 tbsp sounded like too much. We filled ours with fruit filling before frying and dipped in sugar. Fantastic!

I read the comments before delving into the recipe so I used only 5 of the required 6 cups of sifted flour and other than the dough taking forever to rise (about 3 hours), everything else went smoothly. They came out soft and moist but a bit denser in texture which I really liked. Everybody loved them. I did use lard since I ran out of unsalted butter so that might explain why it took a lot longer for the dough to rise as well as the denser texture.

For those that don't want to use the rum extract use another extract you like... I'll try using a lemon extract closer to Easter time... as I was taught in my culinary arts class a recipe is a guide to go by - pick, choose and work with what you have on hand as long as you're using the same measurements for each ingredient... I've made adjustments to recipes I've used from here..