LOVE
YOUR
Harold’s Doughnuts
Joel Anderson
F O O D K& DRIN
CRAFT
Do One Thing. Do It Well. Homegrown Success Stories of the Singularly Scrumptious
As with so many things, practice makes perfect. That old cliche applies across all disciplines, including culinary success. Whether it’s in the crust recipe, the dough preparation or simply the idea that eating food should be fun, these are three Columbia culinary masters doing one thing and doing it well. To say the staff at Harold’s Doughnuts loves making doughnuts sounds like a bit of a reach, but it’s true—they love their craft. The doughnut shop’s mantra “Love Your Craft” developed as co-owners Michael and Karli Urban and co-owner and head doughnut pastry chef Melissa Poelling discussed the vision of what small-batch, artisanal, local doughnuts looked like. “The words kept cycling through. ‘You do what you love; you love what you do,” Poelling says. “It’s not just a project; it’s not a job. This is my craft; it’s what I love. So whatever you do, love the whole process of what that is and what it becomes.” Harold’s Doughnuts first opened as a commissary kitchen in 2014, and in 2015, the doors opened to the public. Each day, doughnut-making shifts start at 5 pm when the night crews start coming in. The day crew starts decorating at 3 am , and the counter staff comes in about 4 to fill the cases for the 6 am open. If they don’t sell out, when the closed sign comes out, the process begins again. Closing time shifts with the season and demand, Poelling says. Midday is too early for some people. If there’s rain, it’s over; stop and go home. Football game times are a consideration on game days, and January is brutally slow for the fried pastry because everyone is focused on health. But the target is 2 pm. The guilty pleasure … that’s where Poelling’s philosophy comes from. “I appreciate things in moderation, and how you handle your moderation is on you,” she says. “My job is to make the tastiest thing I know how to provide you value for your moderation.” Those “things” come in a variety of daily options: two classic sets (glazed and buttermilk cake in vanilla, chocolate, maple, cinnamon/ sugar icing flavors) along with a handful of other regulars. “We also make the Boston creme every day,” Poelling says. “There would be a mutiny and a coup if we didn’t, for sure.” Bacon maple is another regular that flies out of the doughnut case, and there are six specialty flavors rotated into the mix each month, along with a monthly specialty box suchLogo as Boozy, Cereal Milk, Valentine’s and Mother’s Day boxes among others that must be pre-ordered. “We are a from-scratch shop. We make everything in-house, by hand, including our sprinkles. We do have a tendency to sell out,” Poelling says. “Our goal really is to bring happiness and joy through doughnuts.” Secondary logo VisitColumbiaMO.com
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