Donuts and their kin
As a kid, I never really ate donuts. Or, if I did, they weren’t very good, so they weren’t much of a passion of mine. However, as an adult, my eyes (mouth?) have been opened to the many glorious forms that donuts can take, and the kinds I enjoy the most.
In trying to figure out why my wife prefers some kinds of donuts, and I like others, I put together The Donut Matrix, a spreadsheet where I categorize different kinds of donuts.
The Donut Matrix is still evolving (and editable, so you can add donut types), but the main categorizations I’ve used so far are rooted in the kind of dough, and to a degree, the level of complexity:
- Yeast doughnuts
- Cake doughnuts
- Choux pastry
- Puff pastry
- Fritters
- Fried dough
Yeast donuts
Yeast donuts use yeast for leavening, creating super-light donuts that can also be filled with yumminess.
Yeast donuts are one of my favorites, and span a range of different styles, including the now-iconic Krispy Kreme glazed donut, the maple bar, malasadas (Hawaii, by way of Portugal), and jelly donuts.
Cake donuts
Cake donuts use baking powder (and sometimes also baking soda) for leavening, and are cake-like rather than airy like yeast donuts.
In general, I’m less of a fan of cake donuts, which include old-fashioned donuts and cider donuts, but I quite the fan of buttermilk donuts, at least the ones from my corner donut shop.
Choux pastry
Choux pastry does not have a leavening agent, and it lives kind of between dough and batter. It can hold a shape (unlike batter), but it is still thin and can be piped (unlike dough). So you can make cool (and delicious) stuff with it.
Crullers and eclairs are both made with choux pastry, as are churros. Delicious stuff!
Puff pastry
Puff pastry is flaky and delicious, it’s what croissants are made from. It has lots of thin layers of butter and dough laminated together.
I’ve recently lost my mind over cronuts, ordering ahead from Johnny Doughnuts to get their cream-filled “crodoughs” before they sell out on Saturday morning.
Fritters
Apple fritters are probably the best-known fritters. They are different from the other donut types because their contents (in this case, apples) are mixed together into the dough before they are fried.
Apple fritters can be totally amazing and pack the calories to prove it.
Fried dough
This last category needs a better name, as “fried dough”, aka Elephant Ear / Beaver Tail, is its own thing, but it’s meant to capture some simpler donut-like forms including funnel cake and buñuelos.
Love me some donuts
I’d love to hear about the kinds of donuts you like, and in particular donuts from other cultures to add to the Donut Matrix. Add to it, the spreadsheet is open and editable!