The Donut Guy Blog

While traveling last week, a friend brought up that they judge donut shops based on a glazed donut . They get that variety of donut wherever they go, and use that as their baseline looking at places. It is not my methodology, but it does bring up a great point to think about; could a glaze donut be the universal measure?

I think there’s a lot of value in having something universal to go by.  Doing research you know that by removing variables you are able to measure more accurately. Looking at the sticky sugary covered yeast donuts in every location does give a parallel viewpoint. Glazed is also what many people think of in terms of a donut. Other than the pink sprinkle frosted, that donut is very much the icon of donut symbology. 

You can conduct these reviews on a few different measures. The content, texture and taste of the glaze is the first thing to touch your tongue. From there you can feel the fluff or weight of the donut itself. You can tell how well it was risen for the size and determine what it does for your mouth feel. So many factors are clearly useful with all this in mind.

On the other hand,  what do we miss with this method? First of all, it excludes any cake donuts. I would wager also it eliminates rice flour based donuts. Certain shops have those as their specialty so they are out of the running almost immediately if that is the only thing we’re keying in. We also miss creativity from other areas that donuts are expanding. From fillings, to frosting, to candy covered treats on top, there is much to be said about harmonizing these new and different flavors and building methods for a doughnut. Case in point; I stop when I see something in a donut case that I don’t see you every day.

Where does this leave us?  As Miley Cyrus said, I think we have to think of the best of both worlds. Getting a glazed someplace can help you get insight in the universal sense of their donuts. You also need to be able to see where else a bakery could shine outside of that mold. For me, I am the ultimate winner because it seems like I’m going to order two donuts every stop now. 

Thank you Ref Dave for that insight. You will have to teach me how zebras eat donuts.