CHRISTMAS has come early at Doughheads - and in more ways than one.
The Junction-based doughnut makers have launched a Christmas range of doughnuts, and, on Saturday, they will officially reopen after an eight-week renovation that has transformed the shop and its offering.
Doughnuts are still on the menu, but owner Anna Farthing has taken the Doughheads experience up a notch with the addition of house-made gelato.
"I wanted to do something different, and gelato is actually why I got into food in the first place," Farthing tells Weekender.
"I love gelato, but because it is such a science-based product, I knew that if I couldn't do it right it wasn't worth doing, so I never had the courage to give it a go."
A meeting with Domenico Lopresti, the founder of Australia-wide gelato company Gelatissimo, changed her mind.
Farthing and her team worked closely with Lopresti to learn the ins and outs of creating quality gelato in-store at Doughheads.
"I was able to meet with Dom and he has brought this system to life, which enables us to be able to make a quality gelato and do it our own way," she says.
"That is something I was very excited about, knowing that we have the quality and we were going to be able to give people that Doughheads experience."
The newly renovated space has made way for gelato-making facilities that will allow the kitchen team to produce classic flavours and their own creations.
Farthing says they will start with familiar flavours, such as chocolate, vanilla and mango, before becoming more adventurous.
"We will also have flavours like pavlova and a vegan cookies and cream," she says.
"We have tiramisu, salted caramel white chocolate and a few others that we have been able to put our own spin on.
"We plan to bring the creativity from our doughnuts into the gelato world."
New items will be added to the menu - think gelato doughnut sandwiches topped with hot chocolate fudge, salted caramel sauce, Biscoff and Nutella, or fresh-made cinnamon doughnut bites served hot with a scoop of gelato.
Doughheads has come a long way from selling at market stalls in 2014.
A year later, Farthing opened the first Doughheads outlet in Hunter Street Mall before moving to bigger premises at The Junction in 2016 to operate a cafe-style space.
The focus has always been on using quality fresh ingredients and making almost everything from scratch, including the custards, icings, biscuit crumbs, pastries and fruit compotes.
She said she was inspired to try something new with the gelato after the pandemic led to three years of uncertainty in the hospitality world.
"People say 'oh, COVID's over' and we're like 'no, this has been the worst year yet'," she says.
"At the end of last year I decided that if I was going to stick to Doughheads, I wanted to change it up and round out our offering so we could cater for summer and winter.
"We have often had people come into the store and their kid says 'No, I want a gelato', so that made me think that this could work.
"I'm really excited to be able to blend the two, and they work so well together."
The new store includes a bigger kitchen, reduced dine-in space (another result of a change in habits after COVID) and late-trading hours from Thursday to Saturday.
The large window looking into the kitchen remains so customers can watch the pastry chefs in action, and a 1.5-metre high "doughnut wall" has been installed to display the sweet treats.
Doughnuts include staple favourites, such as glazed, nutella, gaytime, cookie deluxe and salted caramel, along with weekly specials (including low-gluten and vegan options).
In December, there are three Christmas-themed doughnuts available each day: Pavlova Delight filled with passionfruit curd topped with a mini baked pavlova and fresh blueberries; White Christmas dipped in white chocolate and topped with chocolate flakes and raspberry crumble; and Candy Cane Brownie dipped in white chocolate, filled with choc peppermint custard and topped with brownie and a candy cane.
A 12-pack of mini Christmas-themed doughnuts is also available by pre-order until Christmas Eve.
- Doughheads is at Shop 17/200 Union Street, The Junction.
