A day in the life of Hamilton’s resident pastry wizards and their tasty creations
There’s something so sweet – literally – about walking into a donut shop. Whether you’re there to pick up some cakes or pies you’ve ordered or to pick out a dozen glazed or frosted treats to share at work, it’s hard to be in a bad mood.
“It’s a mentally low-stress job, but physically it can be a lot,” says Kelly Hansel, co-owner of Kelly’s Bakery. “ Most people are just happy to come in and get some donuts though, so it’s not a high stress environment, even though it does get busy.”
At Kelly’s Bakery and Ross Bakery, donut making is a family affair. Melissa Mahan is a donut maker whose parents bought Ross Bakery 15 years ago, while Kelly Hansel started Kelly’s Bakery with her mom after learning the trade from her aunt, who owns The Donut Spot in Fairfield.
In both shops, they rely on good systems, organization, and a lot of physical strength to do everything from order and organize their baking ingredients to maneuvering 100-pound dough balls around the kitchen to turn them into the day’s pastries.
The Process of Donut Making
Cake donuts are made from a batter, which is then deposited into the fryer to make the donuts. Decorations and icings are added after they cool.
Yeast donuts – the most famous of which is the traditional glazed – are made from a fluffy dough that rises multiple times before it hits the frier.
After making the yeast dough, each donut maker cuts out the traditional donut shapes and moves them to a perfectly-sized screen. These screens are the donut’s home while it proves , fries, cools, and goes for a dip in a large vat of glaze.
Some of the fun donuts to make are filled donuts, where a special machine helps the baker by injecting jam, cream, or another filling into the center of a round yeast donut.
To make hundreds of donuts each day, the donut makers usually work in the afternoon or evening, taking 8 hours or more to create all the donuts needed to open up early in the morning for the first customers.
“When other people are ending their day, the donut maker shift is starting around dinner time, because the time varies a bit and they make them through the night,” says Kelly Hansel.
“One dough takes four hours to make,” explains Melissa Mahan. “We do everything from scratch, and we have to mix, cut, let them rise. It’s a process.”
A day shift handles serving customers, though each shop has some team members who can do both sales and donut making. If there is ever a daytime lull, those teams also complete kitchen tasks to prepare for the next batch of donuts and other shop needs, like folding boxes.
Running a Donut Business Well
Both Ross Bakery and Kelly’s Bakery enjoy the creative challenges of baking, from holiday-themed donuts to the efforts of the Butler County Donut Trail over the years, who occasionally have special events.
“I like making donuts the customers request, especially when one of our regulars has something special they want,” says Melissa Mahan.
Both businesses carry the classics of the donut world, but Ross Bakery is known for making cream horns in-house, a rarity among modern bakeries, and Kelly’s Bakery offers Kelly Bread, their take on a pull-apart ‘monkey bread’ covered in cinnamon icing.
They were able to keep up production during COVID-19 through a combination of loyal customers and the ability to keep social distance with their carry-out business.
“We didn’t get some of the big event orders this year, like school events and weddings,” says Hansel. “We were able to start curbside pickup when COVID struck, bringing donuts straight to people’s cars.”
While donuts are the core of both businesses, they offer a variety of other treats that can be ordered in advance, such as cakes, pies, danishes, and cookies. You can see some of their non-donut offerings on their Facebook pages, facebook.com/kellysdonutsandmore/ and facebook.com/Ross-Bakery-120335357979540.
When you want to stop for a cup of coffee and a blueberry cake donut this season, remember the impressive journey that donut has taken through a local family business to get to your plate. It’s worth going out of your way to stop by and find your favorite flavor in the donut case!