Why Are Round Rock Donuts Orange?

[claire797]

So does anyone know why the Round Rock Doughnuts are orange? Do they use sweet potatoes or is it really their "farm fresh eggs"?

Also, pchef. We did try Ventana. It was very good, but nobody ordered dessert! Can you believe that?

[rlm]

RE: So does anyone know why the Round Rock Doughnuts are orange?

They always looked weird yellow-ish to me. Then again, they are usually inhaled early in the morning in a pre-caffeine haze.

Their website says, "Since 1926, people from all over the country have been stopping by to give our famous yellow (or are they orange?) donuts a try."

So I guess there's some actual debate about the color.

[claire797]

I think they're actually kind of a gold ;).

[Tremor]

So does anyone know why the Round Rock Doughnuts are orange? Do they use sweet potatoes or is it really their "farm fresh eggs"?

Back when Mr. Moehring started making Round Rock Donuts, I imagine the color really did come from the yard eggs.

However, these days, I see no way they could even buy all the yard eggs it would require to pop out as many donuts as they do each day. Plus, if the color was still from the egg yolks, you wouldn't have the consistency of color that is present.

Just a speculation, but I'll bet they use food coloring.

[claire797]

So does anyone know why the Round Rock Doughnuts are orange?  Do they use sweet potatoes or is it really their "farm fresh eggs"?

Back when Mr. Moehring started making Round Rock Donuts, I imagine the color really did come from the yard eggs.

However, these days, I see no way they could even buy all the yard eggs it would require to pop out as many donuts as they do each day. Plus, if the color was still from the egg yolks, you wouldn't have the consistency of color that is present.

Just a speculation, but I'll bet they use food coloring.

So you don't think there's sweet potato in the dough? I can't remember where I heard that.....

[Tremor]

So you don't think there's sweet potato in the dough?  I can't remember where I heard that.....

I don't think so. But, I'll see if I can find out for sure...

[jess mebane]

So you don't think there's sweet potato in the dough?  I can't remember where I heard that.....

I don't think so. But, I'll see if I can find out for sure...

I have a mental image of the Tremors careening down 620 eastside in a tricked out '70 chevelle SS 454 while the Mission Impossible theme plays louder than the hangover humming 'round Sheriff Maspero's head......

edited for auto specs by dear spouse.....

Edited October 17, 2003 by jess mebane (log)

[claire797]

So you don't think there's sweet potato in the dough?  I can't remember where I heard that.....

I don't think so. But, I'll see if I can find out for sure...

I have a mental image of the Tremors careening down 620 eastside in a tricked out '70 chevelle SS 454 while the Mission Impossible theme plays louder than the hangover humming 'round Sheriff Maspero's head......

edited for auto specs by dear spouse.....

Man I'm boring. I just had an image of Tremor standing at the counter charmingly enquiring about the color. Or maybe he'd be tricky and say something like "So how many sweet potatoes do you use in the dough?" or "Sweet potato shipment out back. Better go check it." then see if anyone flinches.

[foodie52]

[Tremor]

What I did was put a tail on Dale Cohrs. He was wearing a long trench coat and a slouch hat. He met a shady-looking character in a dark alley. Money changed hands, and then I saw it; a small vial of super-concentrated yellow coloring...

Actually, the son of the man who started making them in 1926 is still alive and living in Granger (in his 70's now). I emailed him.

I was surprised to learn that the food coloring was started by his father, R.R. Moehring. The color originally came from the egg yolks (the color in a good yard egg is generally a deep yellow-orange), but whenever the eggs he used weren't as deeply colored, the customers would complain that the donuts didn't TASTE as good. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the taste.

Mr. Moehring found a yellow-orange food coloring that matched a good yolk and started using that for consistency. Complaints about the "taste" stopped.

He also said that the color today is way deeper than the "originals". The current owners, the Cohrs (since 1978, I think) are the sixth owners of that business.

And, no sweet potatoes.

[claire797]

How clever of you to go to the guy's son. Very slick.

Now I'm itchin' to go make some food-coloring tinted donuts.

[foodie52]

Tremor: you ROCK!

[jess mebane]

Tremor: you ROCK!

hear, hear!

[Tremor]

Thanks, y'all.

[Tremor]

I just had to add this "follow-up" to the Round Rock Donuts issue. This past weekend, I went there to pick up a dozen. As I was waiting in line for the drive-through, I noticed a stack of boxes out back that were labeled, "Liquid EGG Product".

The plot continues to thicken...

[markf424]

Yikes!

[theabroma]

Re: Round Rocks

Though the implication of that nuclear waste yellow is that the dough contains enough egg yolks to make a brioche feel impoverished, I believe that the eggy color is achieved chemically.

There is a very common product used in many bakeries - the more commercial, and further away from scratch, the more likely the candidate - and it is called 'egg shade'. In the bottle, it is a really terrifying shade of orange red, and when added, in small quantities, to a dough, it produces that irradiated emoticon yellow we know so well.

This is the likely culprit, er - source of the yellow color in Round Rocks. As for the liquid egg product mentioned - it is far more common than you might imagine for a food establishment to use these products. Available from food purveyors, you can get frozen whole egg, yolk, or whites in half-gallon containers, 6 to the case.

Large bakeries, institutional kitchens, and many smaller restaurants, bakeries, cafeterias, and caterers use these products. They have the advantage of allowing you to buy just that part of the egg you need, so you do not have to figure out how to use the other part (in one 5*, I was upbraided by my chef for retaining the unused portions of the egg, with the intent of delivering them to the pastry shop - their way, the proper way, of cracking and separating eggs, I was informed, was to stand over the trash can with, oh 3 flats of 30 each, and dump the unwanted part into the trash. The pastry shop used both fresh whole eggs, but also frozen yolks or whites. Well, that told me!) The other distinct advantage is that either whole or parted out, these eggs are pasteurized, thereby eliminating concerns about salmonella.

Ever see the t-shirt in the store? "If you ain't got Round Rocks, you ain't got nuthin'? That's real special!

Regards,

Sharon A. Peters

aka 'Theabroma'

[Tremor]

That's precisely what Mr. Moehring called it; "egg shade".

As for the "liquid egg product", I figured they had no choice but to use something like that, considering the number of donuts produced each day. Years ago, you would see egg shells dropped on the ground around the dumpster, but that was before they branched out.

I just thought it was funny when I saw the boxes...

[LonghornGal]

I finally got to try some of these wondrous donuts last week. They were strangely orange-yellow. I need to get a box of Crayolas to pick the exact shade. Maybe marigold?

Anyways, we had a ton, and discovered that they get stale very quickly. The donut holes were stale by 11am and the regular donuts (both cake and chocolate glazed) were inedible by 3 pm. But we all enjoyed them in the morning.

Also, what's with the weird sweet bread-with-a-vienna-sausage thing? I liked the bread, but that sausage was too much like biting into a finger for me. ewwww!

[fifi]

Also, what's with the weird sweet bread-with-a-vienna-sausage thing? I liked the bread, but that sausage was too much like biting into a finger for me. ewwww!

Is this sort of like a pigs-in-blanket thingy? Do they really make industrial sized cans of Vienna Sausage or are they opening lots of little cans? Inquiring minds want to know.

[claire797]

Also, what's with the weird sweet bread-with-a-vienna-sausage thing?  I liked the bread, but that sausage was too much like biting into a finger for me.  ewwww!

Is this sort of like a pigs-in-blanket thingy? Do they really make industrial sized cans of Vienna Sausage or are they opening lots of little cans? Inquiring minds want to know.

Was is some variations on a kolache, perhaps?

[LonghornGal]

It was the weirdest kolache I've ever seen. A soft sweet bread, about the size of two large dinner rolls. And inside, a teeny vienna sausage. So you'd have a couple bites of just bread and then suddenly, a nibble of sausage-finger. unpleasant to say the least!

[theabroma]

I think they're actually kind of a gold ;).

←

Over use of a commercial bakery product known as 'egg shade.' It implies that the resulting doughs are egg and butter - and perhaps saffron - rich. T'ain't so. Just food color.

theabroma