A True “Sinker”

The fact that shortening returns to firmness after a doughnut has been fried can have other advantages for the commercial doughnut makers. Specifically, it can mask a variety of sins committed by inept (or just plain cheap) fry guys. You now know from previous posts that old, worn out frying fat soaks into a doughnut […]

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Shortening vs. Oil

My oh my I’ve received a lot of questions about doughnuts the last couple of days! Reader Seth asks: Joe, I notice you use liquid oil for your frying medium. I’ve heard that professional doughnuts makers use mostly solid shortening. Is that true? And if so, why? An excellent question, and one I’ve been meaning […]

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Joe puts his foot down.

Reader Leonard M. writes in with a question about frying oil: Dear Joe, I read your posts on oil freshness will great interest, since it seems every recipe I have for deep fried food calls for 100% fresh oil. Many of them in fact instruct that old oil and new should never be mixed. I […]

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Tim Horton’s Dissent

Reader Aubrey writes in with this comment about Tim Horton’s: I really enjoy your site and your way of analyzing and explaining baking concepts. You seem to be very talented and to normally have great taste in baked goods, but… I… I just cannot reconcile today’s post with what I have read previously. Tim Hortons […]

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This just in…

Canadians love Tim Horton’s. Who knew? Must be a slow new day at the Toronto Star. But Tim Horton’s, I will say, does make great doughnuts, especially cake doughnuts. It’s interesting that the further north you go on the continent, the more cake doughnuts you find. The further south, the more raised. I don’t know […]

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What about a dough?

Reader Pat K. writes in to ask if whether the recipe below would work if she did it the old-fashioned way and made a dough out of it instead of a batter. The answer is yes, though the doughnuts won’t be as light. Just reduce the amount of milk in the recipe by about two […]

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Cake Doughnut Troubleshooting

Cake doughnuts, especially when they’re made from scratch, are extremely fussy things. I can’t emphasize enough how important temperature is to getting them just right. The most common problem with cake doughnuts is an too-high batter temperature. When the temperature of the batter goes up (usually because the temperature of the room goes up) the […]

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What makes a doughnut a doughnut?

Other than frying you mean? The answer is of course nutmeg. Without it a cake doughnut just tastes like a fried ring of cake. Not bad, but not quite “right” either. Those of you with older cookbooks might find that the “old time” doughnut recipes in it call for mace. But then what is mace […]

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