Susan Park smiles as she hands a customer a box of fresh glazed doughnuts at Mary Lee Donuts on Drusilla Lane on Nov. 7. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save There’s nothing like a glazed donut to start off your morning.
It’s pillowy, sugary goodness. Baton Rouge and Lafayette have no shortage of options to get your fix. From hole-in-the-walls to big chains, some are a takeout operation.
Others are part of an entire restaurant with many menu offerings. Either way, they’re often the only small businesses open when blue-collar workers are heading to work. You might be asking yourself, "Aren’t all glazed donuts pretty much the same?" Fair question, but no.
Donuts are an art. A result of an hourslong process. They are in the case every morning and the product of someone clocking in as early as midnight to mix dough, cut, proof, glaze and decorate them.
If the baker doesn’t get in by 3 a.m., they’re late.
Jill Bird carries fresh glazed donuts to the warmer at Meche's Donut King Wednesday, November 6, 2024, in Lafayette, La. “Donut dough is very finicky,” said Vic Dunlap, president of Chef Products Incorporated, which franchises Mary Lee Donuts, a Louisiana-based chain. “It’s sensitive to heat and moisture, and the dough will actually lose percentages of protein as the flour ages.
Every time the moisture level changes, you have to change your temperatures and your handling of the product itself to get it to come out correctly.” Fryi.
