Holy! 4 places to get gourmet doughnuts in Regina
Four Regina bakers have started selling gourmet doughnuts since March
They are exquisitely and carefully iced and cost around $5 a pop.
Artisan doughnuts have hit Regina's food scene in full force, with four bakers starting to create and sell the holy beauties since March.
Here are some doughnut makers who aim to go beyond the usual box.
1. The Everyday Kitchen
Doughnuts descended at Katie Shmelinski's home-based bakery in Regina this March.
Her specialty is sourdough doughnuts, which require a bit of planning ahead as they take 48 hours to raise.
They also are a bit of a rarity, according to Shmelinski. She said she only knows about one other place in Canada that does 100-per-cent naturally-leavened sourdough doughnuts.
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Hers come in flavours such as brown butter or coffee glazed, chocolate chip cookie cheesecake and classic cinnamon sugar.
They are hefty, too, weighing in at a quarter pound each (double what a Tim Hortons doughnut weighs, according to Shmelinski.)
But it's the taste that she believes really shines.
"Artisan doughnuts are just in a league of their own!" she said. "The time and effort that we put into our product really comes through when you have a doughnut from any of the local doughnuts makers."
Where: 33 1/3 Coffee Roasters on Fridays starting at 9 a.m. CST, plus out of her house.
Price: $3.50 each
2. Do Si Donut
Lindsay Klassen's first foray into doughnut making was prompted when her hometown bakery shut down years ago, leaving a disappointed little girl at her elementary school's annual hot dog and doughnut day.
"It was a very sad day when we no longer had easy access to doughnuts... Ever since I have selfishly been making doughnuts to fill that void," Klassen said in an email to CBC.
Klassen also has a degree in fine arts, and her doughnut flavours definitely verge into fine arts territory.
You can taste the effort and care put into the doughnuts.- Lindsay Klassen, Do Si Donut
She makes everything from chocolate with handmade sponge toffee, to sea buckthorn berry, to a peanut butter glazed doughnut filled with handmade strawberry balsamic vinegar jam.
(For those who also had to Google sea buckthorn, it's a sour, orange circular berry that grows on a shrub.)
She started selling them in April at the Regina Farmers' Market. It takes about eight hours for her to make 250 to 300 doughnuts for each market.
She said all that labour is worth it to see her customer's faces, and their appreciation for her product.
"This may be a little cheesy, but you can taste the effort and care put into the doughnuts when they are made by hand," she said.
Where: Regina Farmers' Market on Saturdays 9 a.m CST to 1 p.m. Starting mid-August at Happy Hi Coffee at 1603 Victoria Ave.
Price: $4 for a regular doughnut, $5 for a speciality one.
3. HoBo Donuts
Making doughnuts is practically in Jimmy Schimmel's blood.
As a teenager growing up in Swift Current, Sask., Schimmel would help his parents run their bakery. It was his job to flip the doughnuts.
Fifteen years later, he's back at it helping bring fancier doughnuts to foodies in Regina.
"For me, doughnuts were just a natural thing. I love doughnuts, but I also recognize that you couldn't really get a good homemade style, custom, gourmet doughnut in Regina," Shimmel said.
He's no doughnut snob though, and admitted he still gets a craving for Tim Hortons every once in awhile.
"There's nothing wrong if people like Tim Hortons doughnuts, but I think with mine, one is all you need," he said.
"There's a lot of flavour that goes into mine and creativity and thought. There's a big process when it comes to creating a HoBo Donut."
Where: Pop-ups around the city. Check Shimmel's Instagram or Facebook weekly for details.
Cost: $3 per doughnut, $3.50 for a new, fancy option coming soon
4. Northern Belle Bread & Pastry
Doughnuts are something that's been on Teisha Huff's radar since her pastry schooling at SAIT in Calgary a few years ago.
This April, she had a conversation with friends at Regina's 33 ⅓ Coffee Roasters and decided it was time to get started.
Now she says the biggest challenge is simply keeping up with the demand for her yeasted doughnuts, made out of a modified brioche dough.
"I keep my glazes simple so that the flavour of the doughnut itself is still centre stage," she said in an email to CBC.
Some of her most popular doughnuts are toasted coconut, lemon poppyseed and salted caramel.
If you're expecting a taste similar to Tim Hortons, though, think again. Huff said her artisanal doughnuts are a completely different product with a short list of real ingredients.
"As with anything handmade, it takes skill, attention to detail, and genuine devotion to make the best product you can," she said.
Where: Northern Belle's doughnuts are sold at 33 ⅓ Coffee Roasters every Saturday and Fix Coffee every Wednesday. She also does various pop ups around the city for the rest of the month. But take note, lucky Saskatoon residents: she is moving to your city in August.
Price: $3.50 each
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