The Hungry Chum: A definitive guide to Anchorage doughnuts (For KTVA)

If you ask my family, I’ve never been too shy to say what needs to be said. I won’t sugarcoat it — I have found the best doughnuts in Anchorage.

​As I write, there is sugar coursing through my veins. Some people talk about being able to feel adrenaline move through your body, but I think I can feel the sucrose pumping its way from my heart to my hands.

This task has been on my list for a while, but has always felt too daunting. (After all, I’m just one human person — not a dog nor any other thing the internet has wondered.)

First of all, there is the whole debate whether a “typical” doughnut or a cake doughnut is better. For those who might not know, your typical airy, light doughnut is made with yeast which gives it those distinct qualities. A cake doughnut is leavened with baking powder or baking soda, giving it a denser, crumbly texture — old fashioned doughnuts are a subset of this broader category. Both varieties are usually fried.

Second, there are three heavy-hitters in town: Golden Donuts, Dino’s Donuts and now, Krispy Kreme. Their respective followers are bitterly divided, so much so that were I not to remain anonymous I might get pinged in the head with a cruller for what I’m about to say.

So, I called in a team to help take on the Herculean task of tasting the big three side-by-side — KTVA 11’s Daybreak.

My scores aligned nearly spot on with theirs and I thank them for putting their taste buds and waistlines on the line. However, I wanted to go further. What separates a gas station or grocery store doughnut from one of these high-end confections? The answers may surprise you.

For my highly scientific study, I tasted a yeast and cake doughnut from each shop, where available. “Plain glazed” in the graph below refers to yeasted doughnuts; “old fashioned” are cake doughnuts.
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So without further ado, I give you:

Continues on KTVA.com
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Published on KTVA.com on November 4, 2016.