Liz Biro

liz.biro@indystar.com

How do you eat 30 doughnuts in one hour?

That’s the question everyone asked me this morning as I prepared to judge #DonutDayIndy. WIBC radio station and it's morning show host (and mad foodie) Tony Katz organized the event to select central Indiana’s best doughnut from among 15 bakeries that answered the call for entries. Katz knows the region's doughnuts. Hardly a week goes that a shop doesn't deliver a dozen or two to WIBC for Katz to try.

Taking small bites was almost impossible, especially when specialty doughnut category winner Titus Bakery in Lebanon showed up with what I called “the bacon maple longboard.” Bakers blanketed the big, maple-frosted, raised doughnut stick with two strips of the good stuff: Boar’s Head bacon.

As one of my fellow judges said, “It’s not a gimmick; it’s good.” The doughnut and silky maple frosting were the royal bed for King Bacon in all his salty, meaty, crispy glory. Titus cooks oven-crisp the bacon fresh each day. The maple topping is a secret recipe used since the shop opened in 1980. The $3 doughnut is one of the shop’s best sellers.

Eating just one bite of each doughnut in the raised category was no easier. The flavor and texture variations were incredible for this most basic doughnut.

Square Donuts took home first place for its light, tender version. It sported just enough glaze to sweeten but not overpower the doughnut. Everyone got to sample Square Donuts' raised doughnuts this morning. The shop gave out free doughnuts as part of the Salvation Army of Indiana National Donut Day celebration, which coincided with #DonutDayIndy on Monument Circle.

How a Hoosier veteran made the doughnut famous

The #DonutDayIndy win is not the only good news from Square Donuts. The company opened its sixth location this morning, this one at 8745 E. 116th St. in Fishers. Plus, Square Donuts’ shops are getting warming ovens. The Carmel store at 14 S. Rangeline Road already serves warm doughnuts.

All the #DonutDayIndy winners and contestants are listed at WIBC's website. A few doughnuts that stood out for me were Linne's Bakery Cafe oh-so-flavorful raised doughnuts. The shop is in Shelbyville. I also loved the creamy texture of Illinois Street Food Emporium’s raised glazed. Sweet Temptations put up a fluffy cinnamon-spiced cherry fritter that I’ll be traveling to the Trafalger shop to try again. General American Donut Co.’s crème brulee doughnut is my favorite doughnut in Indianapolis at the moment. Bakers one-upped it by lacing the filling with bourbon.

Someone get me a black coffee. Big gulps. Stat!

Follow IndyStar food writer Liz Biro on Twitter: @lizbiro, Instagram: @lizbiro, Facebook and Pinterest. Call her at (317) 444-6264.