The path of our gluten-free doughnuts has been rocky. When we first opened Curiosity Doughnuts, I set out to make an exact replica of our yeasted doughnut. I made the doughnut but was not able to juggle the logistics to make it happen consistently. I adjusted to my circumstances and created a chemically leavened baked doughnut. I changed flavors from apple cider to pumpkin to devil’s food cake. The doughnuts were delicious, though technically they were doughnut-shaped cakes. I played around with making a gluten-free cruller. It was delicious but not functionally repeatable. I returned to the baked doughnut.
When we moved our shop into its new location, I quietly shelved the gluten-free doughnut, much to the dissatisfaction of some of our core doughnut fans. I knew that I wanted to return to making the gluten-free doughnut—I just didn’t have time to give it my full attention. In the meantime, I’ve tweaked and fine-tuned our other doughs. I made a vegan doughnut. At the shop, it is “not quite vegan” because we have to fry it in the same oil as our other doughnuts. Once that was settled, I started mulling over gluten-free doughnuts once more. I reasoned that it might as well be vegan too, because many of our gluten-free customers have other food sensitivities. And I like a challenge.
I set about tinkering. I created a new flour blend for the doughnuts. I integrated it into our existing vegan recipe. It behaved differently than I expected. I adjusted the dough and set about frying. The doughnuts are crisp and crackly on the outside. The crumb is moist, tender, and chewy. The doughnuts are a success. I still need to figure out how to integrate these doughnuts into our high-gluten environment. My biggest obstacle was creating a doughnut that was so good no one would guess it was vegan and gluten-free. Now I have an incredible motivation to get it into our customers’ hands.
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