Darin Taing got up way, way early to bring Santa Cruz sprinkles. Photo by Chip Scheuer.
Darin Taing has been up since a little after midnight, and it’s now 8:15am. Taing, who owns the Mission Street Ferrell’s doughnuts, comes in seven nights a week around 1 or 2am, and he stays until 8 or 9am. “It’s hard because of the 24-hour thing—waking up in the middle of the night,” he says.
He fell into this business at an early age: his parents and sisters and cousins all own doughnut shops, too, and it isn’t all fun and games anymore. He eats about two or three doughnuts a month, and says that on a scale from 1 to 10 his doughnut exasperation (from baking the sugary breakfast items) has reached a 10. In other words, the man needs a night off.
SCW: How do you make a raised doughnut?
DARIN TAING: You mix it in, and you actually have to roll out the dough and cut each shape at the bar, kind of like a cookie cutter doughnut. You cut out what you want, and you have to put it in a steamer, a proof box. Put it in there for about 30 or 45 minutes. It raises the doughnut, gets it to twice the size. After that, you just fry it.
Have any doughnuts inspired you?
Yeah, I’ve seen some. With me here, I already do so much. It’s one of my dying flaws. I don’t want to create new stuff and do new stuff and do more labor as far as making doughnuts. I hate making doughnuts.
But your kids like doughnuts, right?
Yeah, no, sort of, whatever. They like bringing doughnut holes to class.
Does burger on Mission Street still use Ferrell’s doughnuts for the Luther burger?
They do. They pick up doughnuts every couple days, a couple dozen or so. I found it weird at first, but I tried it. It was pretty good—a breakfast-y type burger.
How do you make apple fritters?
Just the dough—you chop it up, and then put some cubed apple, mix in a bunch of cinnamon, chop it all up for a few minutes until it’s fine. Get the amount you want. Put that in a proof box and make it bigger and fry it. It’s a lot of work. Apple fritter is probably the most labor-intensive.
What’s the best doughnut you’ve ever had?
I like the cinnamon crumb doughnuts, maple bars sometimes. When doughnuts come out within a half hour after they’re made, it’s two or three times better than an ordinary doughnut. Fresh doughnuts are way better.
