I’ll admit from the start that doughnut making has nothing to do with digital photography or internet technology or any of the other odd subjects I’ve posted about in the past but bear with me for a minute and read on.  Friday night my wife and I stopped by the Arlington Krispy Kreme for some goodies and I took a few photos of their operation.  After we got home with our boxes of sugary goodness, we watched Mark Summers explain on his show “Unwrapped” the secret behind Krispy Kreme’s Original Glaze.  Having all that info at once just screamed blog post!

When people talk about a Krispy Kreme doughnut, they’re usually referring to our signature treat: the Original Glazed. Made from a recipe dating back to the 1930s, our Original Glazed doughnuts have helped set us apart. And if you haven’t had an Original Glazed HOT off the line, you need to try one! *quoted from the Krispy Kreme website

Krispy Kreme stores across North America produce more than 7.5 million doughnuts per day and make more than 2.7 billion doughnuts per year.  A typical Krispy Kreme store produces more than 3,000 doughnuts per hour, but larger stores can produce up to 12,000 doughnuts per hour.  A store manager on Unwrapped said his stores could produce 70,000 a day at full steam.  The dough is mixed manually in a blender but then the process moves to their automated cooking line.

What they’re not telling you is why their Original Glazed are so much lighter than other donuts.  The secret is a yeast-based dough.  Krispy Kreme doughnuts are formed from dough extruded by air pressure to form a perfect doughnut shape. The doughnut “hole” actually doesn’t exist at Krispy Kreme.  Once formed they are put on conveyor belted racks and allowed time to rise.

Once the rising process is complete the doughnuts are dropped into hot oil for a 30 second cooking on one side….

then they are flipped for even cooking on both sides…

and finally they get a glaze bath.

Krispy Kreme employees use dowel rods to remove the hot doughnuts from the line.

If you ever drive by a Krispy Kreme, look for the Hot Light.  This means the line is cooking and fresh hot doughnuts are ready to eat.  If you enjoy the ones you buy at your local grocery store then give yourself a treat and head to your nearest Krispy Kreme for one fresh off the line.  You won’t believe the difference!

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