In this class we will make naturally leavened donuts from start to finish. We will go over mixing, fermenting, shaping, and frying the donuts. We will also make cinnamon roll dough, which will allow us to see a secondary option for incorporating fat into our sweet dough. We’ll focus on our flour choices, and discuss our best possible options for avoiding industrial ingredients often found in enriched doughs. This class will also provide each attendee with a small amount of Mike’s personal sourdough starter, Cheryl, as well as recipes for both doughs made in class. 

WHERE/WHEN: Saturday, April 26th// 2:30-4:00PM// Hole Donut, 168 Haywood Road, Asheville

Bio: Mike Higgins began his baking journey at home in 2015 and started working at a bakery/cafe in Quincy, Fl, shortly thereafter. In 2018, he attended his first Kneading Conference and Bread Festival as a student/volunteer in Skowhegan, Maine. It was this conference that would help shape him into the whole-grainy, natural leavening lover he is today. He was so inspired by the Maine Grain Alliance that he moved to Portland, ME, and began working  in both small and large scale bread/pastry production.. Through that experience, he developed a deep passion for wood-fired pizza and two years later, in 2020, he returned to Tallahassee where he began managing a local pizza establishment, until of course the pandemic had other plans. In response, he launched a cottage bakery from his  home, quickly outgrowing that space, and  started Expanding Circles Bakery in a local community kitchen. In January of 2023 he and his wife moved to Asheville, where he took a position as the early morning baker at Mother for 10 months before arriving at his current positions at both Hole and All Souls Pizza.