If Willy Wonka made doughnuts, they would be something like the pastries at Gourdough’s food trailer on South Lamar Boulevard. The doughnuts are wacky, creative, full of imagination and to put it simply, absolutely delicious.
The quaint little food trailer makes doughnuts hot to order, right on the spot. But, there is no choosing from an array of pastries behind glass display windows like the typical setup of other doughnut shops.
Choices include doughnuts with fried chicken and honey butter icing, doughnuts with bacon and maple syrup icing, doughnuts with habanero jelly and cream cheese, doughnuts with peanut butter and jelly, doughnuts with margarita filling and other creative masterpieces.
After sampling the Flying Pig (the doughnut with bacon and maple syrup icing), Miss Shortcake (a doughnut with cream cheese icing and fresh cut strawberries), the Heavenly Hash (a doughnut with marshmallows and chocolate fudge icing) and the Funky Monkey (a doughnut with grilled bananas, cream cheese icing and brown sugar baste), there is no doubt that Palmer and Samford have hit the nail on the head when it comes to creating delicious, satisfying treats.
Gourdough’s is obviously different from any other doughnut shop. It doesn’t open at 4 a.m., make doughnuts at 5 a.m. or let them sit and become stale upon afternoon closing time. Open at 9 a.m. and closed at 2 a.m., Gourdough’s is the ideal treat for the late risers and night owls of Austin.
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Austin as a whole is a big late-night city,” said co-owner Paula Samford. “We are taking the typical doughnut out of context. When people come home late, there is nothing unique [still] open.”
Gourdough’s opened during ACL weekend, and over the past weeks, plenty of people have been swinging by to sink their teeth into these decadent treats. Yet, creating Gourdough’s didn’t take years of planning; in fact, the idea came like a flash to Samford and her co-owner Ryan Palmer, who both also work in real estate.
“
I always have to be busy, and [the real estate market] is slow and very seasonal,” Samford said. “The downtime was eating on me, but for whatever reason, the idea came so easy. We were bouncing ideas off each other, and [the idea of Gourdough’s] came in an hour.”
Beginning to cultivate her idea, Samford proceeded to experiment in the kitchen with the giant pastries, creating riffs on favorite childhood dishes including her granny’s pies and her mother’s heartwarming recipes. Now, she and Palmer have created a menu of more than 25 doughnuts.
The ideas for future Gourdough’s doughnuts seem to be neverending. Come Thanksgiving, they will introduce a doughnut with dressing, turkey and cranberry sauce glaze. Two other additional doughnuts entitled “Son of a Peach” (similar to peach cobbler) and “Cherry Bomb” will join the menu soon.
Local doughnut shop offers unique pastry combinations
Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009
Updated: Thursday, October 29, 2009
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Miss Shortcake specialty doughnut
Also, props to Carlos. DT video usually bores me to tears but this was nice. There were some beautiful shots in there.
Wellllll done, guys!