The sweetest job in town

Baker masters doughnut trade

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES Sanjay Patel, owner and managing partner at Dunkin' Donuts, makes pumpkin cake doughnuts in the kitchen of the business in Waldorf. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Making a lot of dough: When it is time to make the doughnuts, employees at the Dunkin' Donuts in Waldorf say Sanjay Patel has got it down.

A veteran doughnut maker, Patel has been frosting cake doughnuts and putting the creme in the Boston Kremes since 1992.

Patel, owner of the only Dunkin' Donuts store in Charles County, said that before beginning work as a baker at the Dunkin' Donuts in Crofton, he had never really seen a doughnut before, as they were not common in India back then.

In 2001, Patel along with his uncle, Manubhai Patel, took over ownership of the Dunkin' Donuts store that sits within the Shell station on U.S. 301.

Patel works the day shift and arrives at the store hours before the 5 a.m. opening to get started on the doughnuts.

Patel said they make all the doughnuts in the shop, and Dunkin' Donuts headquarters requires, Patel said, that the shop must have six varieties available at all times including glazed and chocolate frosted. The store can alternate the other 30 varieties available.

The Waldorf store has quite a few of the 30 varieties to choose from and of them all, Patel said the French cruller is his favorite to make.

"It's the hardest to make ... the mixture of dough is hard to get right," he said. Patel said the challenge of the French cruller makes it exciting to make.

'Tis the season: Patel made a batch of pumpkin doughnuts one afternoon last week. Placing the dough in the hot grease, Patel was able to tell when the doughnut was ready to come out just from his many years experience in the craft.

"We've done it so long," he said about his accuracy.

After the doughnuts came out of the hot grease Patel ran them through what appeared to be a waterfall of glaze and then sat them to cool.

The type of doughnut indicates how long it takes to make. Patel said, referring to cake doughnuts taking a shorter time than the glazed doughnuts that require time to allow the yeast to rise.

Working in a doughnut shop must lend itself to indulging in a few doughnuts. If nothing else, there must sometimes mistake donuts that don't turn out so well.

Patel said that after so many years, mistake doughnuts are few and far between. As far as eating the doughnuts, he said he was "over that," referring to losing the taste for the fried pastries after making them for so many years.

When he first started making doughnuts, "I was eating a lot ... [Now], if I have to eat it, sour cream," he said of his choice of varieties.

Patel said many of the employees at the Charles County Dunkin' Donuts have been trained to make the doughnuts, but few actually put the training in practice day in and day out.

On top of a multitude of doughnuts, Patel said the Dunkin' Donuts store has a variety of coffees, hot chocolates and other beverages, including the pumpkin spice latte, which he said is a holiday favorite in the area. Patel said bagels, breakfast sandwiches and flat bread sandwiches are also available.

"I like the bagels," he said.

Patel said many holiday specials will come out in the following weeks.

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