SOPHIE HODOROWICZ KNAB AUTHOR
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Placek - a sweet yeast bread with ancient origins

8/24/2021

4 Comments

 
To Polish Americans, the term placek conjures up the image of a sweet yeast bread with a crumbly topping of flour, butter and sugar baked in a rectangular loaf pan. 
Picture
Polish ethnographers studying the preparation of food and its consumption among the country folk feel that placek, the name given to a cake made of yeast that was baked for special occassions, is the modern evolution of the ancient kołacz, the special bread baked for weddings. Ethnographer Jan Bystron states, "in certain parts of Poland the kołacz is called placek. This is a baked item made from white wheat flour with cheese and raisins."

In light of the requests I received for the recipe after I posted this photo of the placek I made for St. Casimir's Church (Buffalo, NY)  Our Lady's Street Fair, I'm posting it here for those of you who asked (thank you for the compliment!) and for anyone who may be  interested.

Placek
3 eggs
4 cups plus 4 tablespoons unbleached flour
½ cup golden yellow or dark raisins
 ½ cup hot water
Two ¼ ounce packages active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
½ cup butter (one stick)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
 
Topping
 
⅓ cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
 
 
1.Bring eggs and flour to room temperature.
2.Soak raisins in the hot water for 30 minutes or until plump. Drain and squeeze raisins lightly to remove excess fluid.
3.Place ½ cup warm water (110º to 115ºF) into a 2 cup measuring glass or bowl. Sprinkle yeast over the water and mix. Add ½ teaspoon of the sugar to the yeast mixture and 4 tablespoons of the flour to make a tin batter. Set aside or 15 to 20 minutes. It should become bubbly and frothy.
4.Scald the milk in a saucepan, remove from heat and add the butter, salt nutmeg and vanilla. Cool to lukewarm (110º to 115ºF.)
5. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and remaining sugar until pale yellow. Add the lukewarm milk mixture and then the yeast mixture.
6.Gradually add the remaining 4 cups of flour, beating well. Add the raisins and mix thoroughly. The dough will be somewhat sticky.
7.Place in a warm area and allow dough to double in bulk about an hour(or sometimes more)
8.Grease and lightly flour 2 9x5 inch or 8x3½ inch loaf pans. Distribute the dough evenly between the pans. Cover and let rise again for 30 minutes.
9.While dough is rising, make the topping. Place dry ingredients in small bowl and cut the butter into the flour, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon until it looks like coarse meal, as if making a pie crust. Or, place ingredients in food processor and pulse together for same effect.
10.Preheat oven to 350ºF. Sprinkle topping evenly over the dough and bake for 30 minutes.
 
Smacznego! May it be tasty!

Recipe from Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook by Sophie Hodorowicz Knab. Hippocrene Books, Inc.

4 Comments
CzMK link
8/25/2021 07:14:42 am

Zoś, PJC!
Neat, short take on placek/kołacz.
Above all today for special occasions
Not daily fare. My Mama kneaded & baked
her own every Saturday. It was rising b4
we rose.
However, in her Kitchen the crumb topping
was only an exception. Her loaves shinned
a noble, golden brown and tasted more like
an exquisite (not too sweet) yeast bread. It
was the best warm, right out of the oven.
Though she chastized me, „you’ll ruin ur
stomach!”
Second best, day old slices, were renewed
In the toaster. 1st & 2nd bests were always
smeared with melting butter.
I found a replica of Mama’s loaf in a Toronto
Bakery. Wow!
Do you know of any source for the non-crumby
golden type? Would like to hear ur take
on this. ksCz

Reply
Sophie Knab
8/26/2021 03:38:49 pm

Thank you for your comment. My mother, born and raised in Poland, never made a crumb topping for her placek. She made her placek pretty much the same as above recipe but richer with eggs and butter because it was for a special ocassion like Easter or Christmas so "nie żałowała," that is, she didn't skimp. Before she put her loaves in the oven she gave the top a simple egg wash of beaten egg. As a matter of fact, I remember her "brush" was three or four small white chicken feathers tied together at the quill end. When baked the top was a shiny golden brown and so was the interior from the eggs and buttter. Thanks for bringing back this memory. Makes me want to find some chicken feathers. Hope this helps.

Reply
CzMK link
8/27/2021 05:59:32 pm

Ale fajnie!!

Steve
7/4/2023 11:59:48 am

My grandmother passed her recipe onto my wife before she passed and that recipe was from my great-great grandmother from Poland. The original written recipe had old world techniques to get the dough to rise, like putting the dough under the covers of the bed as that was the only place in the house that had the warmth needed. This bread is tied to so many good memories around Christmas time, especially grandma yelling at the kids to not run around in the house because it would mess up the dough rising correctly. Little did I know, she was right, the vibrations would make the yeast bubbles come together and form one big bubble in the middle of the dough. We found out about that the hard way. Thank you for your post!

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