Sandy Bakic has been helping fry paczkis since 1973, when her parents purchased the New Martha Washington Bakery in the then largely Polish community of Hamtramck. The bakery had opened in 1925, and the original paczki recipe, which is still used, came with the shop. Although the bakery’s customers places of origin have changed dramatically. Sandy has concluded, “St. Patrick’s Day, everybody’s Irish. Well Pączki Day, everybody’s Polish. Even though we’re Serbian!”
What Is a Paczki
How Paczkis Came to Michigan
Immigration Gastronomy