TOLEDO, Ohio —
Bakery Unlimited "kneaded" all the help it could get on Monday as workers prepared for Fat Tuesday's paczki rush.
Fat Tuesday is the biggest day of the year for the business as people come in to buy paczki, said head baker Ryan Watson. The bakery has been preparing for the day for over three weeks.
"We're doing a lot today," Watson said. "We're doing about 1,200 dozen paczki today, and we'll probably do the same amount if not more tomorrow."
When you do the math, that's about 14,400 paczki being made per day.
Paczki are a Polish tradition for the Lenten season.
"It essentially symbolizes what we're giving up for lent," Tom Pruss, president of the Polish American Community of Toledo said. "Most people give up sweets or alcohol, things like that. Well, imagine it all being encompassed in this nice little pastry."
Traditionally, people would find all the sweets they had in their cabinet and put them together into one sugary, dense baked good.
Although they may look similar, paczki are different than donuts. Paczki have additional flour and sugar, along with nutmeg. These additions change the flavor and make them more dense than donuts.
The baked goods are covered in powdered or granulated sugar and are often filled with a variety of fillings. Traditionally, they were filled with raisins or prunes, but these flavors are not as popular anymore.
Custard is the biggest seller, Watson said. Some of the other flavors include raspberry, lemon and chocolate.
Although Tuesday is the day most people go and grab one, in Poland, they celebrated last Thursday.
"Last Thursday would have been the day that you ate your paczki in Poland," Pruss said.
You may hear people referring to the baked good as a paczki, pronounced "puhnch-kee," but this is the plural version. Paczek is the singular version, pronounced "pohnch-eck."
"You can't just eat one," Pruss said.
Bakery Unlimited does not plan on selling out on Tuesday, but Watson said they will be making paczki all week long at both of its locations.