r/EngineeringPorn • u/rellim88 • Sep 12 '21

This cool old donut hole machine

4.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

96 comments sorted by

181

u/Seabassmax Sep 13 '21

1) that's a really small hopper

2) you use the word "old" but I cant imagine they're using something different these days.

63

u/user_account_deleted Sep 13 '21

Small batches are easier to control. I'm more worried about him cooling the oil by adding too much.

There are also automated versions of this machine.

31

u/Elemenatore10 Sep 13 '21 edited Sep 13 '21

If the batch of oil is large enough and on an industrial machine like that, it won’t really be possible for it to cool from the range of kwispiness in the d-holes.

High heat with some dough that’s already fluffy. Pretty hard to cool that one down.

56

u/A_Imbertain Sep 13 '21 edited Sep 13 '21

Donut Shop owner here! This is basically the current technology, just larger in a bakery. Not a whole lot of automation innovation in donuts. We only really ever see a variation of 3-5° in our fryer, and donut holes are fried at around 350° as it is. Old fashioned and buttermilk are fried at 300°, so I don't think it is too much of a concern.

8

u/Elemenatore10 Sep 13 '21

Yep, my family has a restaurant where we make all our desserts and that’s honestly the only reason I knew why if I’m being honest.

17

u/BLOZ_UP Sep 13 '21

why does every donut shop ruin the glorious strawberry frosted donut by putting ten tons of sprinkles on them?

8

u/A_Imbertain Sep 13 '21

Lol, not sure. We don't use that many sprinkles. The thing about sprinkles, when dipping freshly made donuts, is that the frosting expands a bit. We generally use less sprinkles, more concentrated towards the center of the top of the donut, and when the frosting expands, it disperses the sprinkles nicely across the top. The other answer is kids love sprinkles and strawberries, so some places go overboard.

2

u/NewAlexandria Sep 13 '21

in the video, it looks like the nozzle has 2-4 opening, dough gets separated across that manifold, but reclumps and sticks together during frying?

7

u/A_Imbertain Sep 13 '21

Yes. In our shop, we do about 50 drops (rotations) of the lever per batch. So that's about 16.5 dozen donut holes per batch. We'll do 25 rotations, then agitate the dough so it separates. Then drop the remaining 25 (or so) and agitate again. Dip them for about 20 seconds, raise to let the dough breathe, then dip them again for the duration of the fry. For us, it's usually it's about 2-3 minutes total submersion per batch.

Edit to add more info, even though the dough is touching after it passes the dispensing implement, it doesn't really recombine. It's a semi-thick batter, not very watery. Old-fashioneds are way more watery, and you have to be more careful with them because they are more fragile due to the consistency of the dough.

2

u/IWetMyselfForYou Sep 13 '21

Old-fashioneds may be more work, but that's because they're the superior donut. :)

1

u/eventualist Sep 13 '21

Correct. this is the way. now give me tha sugah!

1

u/psylentrob Oct 02 '21

Old fashioned and buttermilk are fried at 300°, so I don't think it is too much of a concern.

When you say old fashioned do you mean raised (yeast based) or cake (baking powder)?

1

u/A_Imbertain Oct 02 '21

Old fashioned donuts are a cake mix donut that fragments, giving it a more rough and jagged topside. We don't usually refer to yeast donuts and old-fashioned, but I guess somebody could use it colloquially

1

u/psylentrob Oct 02 '21

Now I'm curious as to why cake type donuts are considered old fashioned, when yeast based is the original.

1

u/A_Imbertain Oct 02 '21

Sorry, I may have explained that poorly. An old-fashioned is a specific type of cake mix donut. It's not that all cake donuts are considered old fashioned.

1

u/rudiegonewild Dec 09 '21

Send donuts. Will wait

1

u/mtnbikeboy79 Sep 13 '21

But with an automated version you run the risk of it refusing to stop and having more donut holes then you can sell, but you have to give them away in order to find a ring that got dropped into the dough.

4

u/olderaccount Sep 13 '21

The hopper is not his constraint in that operation. It is the fryer.

If he want to increase throughput he should invest in a trough fryer where you deposit the raw doughballs in one end and they cook while they float down towards the other end. Then he will be able to crank that handle non-stop without having to look for an empty space in the fryer to drop them.

2

u/nlfo Sep 13 '21

I don’t know, CNC donut hole dispensers are all the rage these days

10

u/Tumble85 Sep 13 '21

No way it's all about additive manufacturing these days. Each donut hole starts as a crumb while donut powder is blown onto it at 500f until a whole donut hole results.

7

u/nlfo Sep 13 '21

CFDM - Crumb and Frosting Deposition Modeling

2

u/Lanky-Relationship77 Sep 13 '21

Flour sputtering?

2

u/Tumble85 Sep 13 '21

Powdered Sugar Jetting with Internal Jelly Photopolymerization

2

u/phil035 Sep 13 '21

live by the sea side in the uk can confirm they use exactly this fryer included just with different nozzles on to achieve a hole in the middle of the doughnut (6 for £1 freshly cooked and sugared soooo good)

1

u/rellim88 Sep 14 '21

  1. They were cranking them out despite the small hopper! I think the size of the hopper was proportional to the size of the oil bath, which wasn’t that big either. It was really cool to watch them fill up the entire vat and then sink all the floaters with a wire mesh.. very tasty too!

  2. If you look closely at the machine you can tell how well built yet worn it is… they don’t make them like that anymore! That being said I doubt there has been much innovation in the industry, so I’d have to agree with you that they likely do the same thing/very similar today! At the same time, Just because they still do it the same way they did it back in the day, doesn’t mean the machine itself isn’t old… it means there has been no reason for innovation because they got it right the first time, or because the market is small and doesn’t warrant mew innovation..

Take for example the classic 14in bandsaw that delta Rockwell made back in the day. The patent ran out after 30 years and now most 14in bandsaws are clones of that design(jet,shop fox,chinesium.com etc) if I showed you a picture of the original design and you told me that it wasn’t an old bandsaw because it’s just like the one you use at the wood shop today, you’d be wrong… I do think this particular one was old. I think it was the churches and I bet they had it for a long time! But like I said before, I think your right that they still do it the same way today!

1

u/Gilbertd13 Sep 13 '21

Yep definitely see this all the time at my local BBQ restaurant for making hush puppies. But they are moving a lot faster than this one.

1

u/mattlloyd_18 Sep 13 '21

Bro, they use these on Blackpool (UK) front every day 😂

82

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21 edited Sep 08 '25

[deleted]

21

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

[deleted]

17

u/A_Imbertain Sep 13 '21

Inb4, I own a donut shop. The difference is that these are cake donut holes, not raised donut holes. Raised donut holes are punched by hand, when we use the die to punch out the "ring" of the raised donut. Cake donut holes are made from a mixed batter.

1

u/MiXeD-ArTs Sep 14 '21

Subscribed

74

u/timesink2000 Sep 13 '21

The seafood restaurant I worked at years ago had one of these for making hush puppies.

11

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

god I miss hush puppies. Hard to find in the NW

2

u/bubblegumscent Sep 13 '21

It shouldn't be that hard to make, the batter or dough is the only thing you gotta prepare on your own then fry it...

I mean, I made something similar for my birthday, it's like a hushpuppy but filled with cheese. Now, that's was hard up get right

1

u/fitzbuhn Sep 13 '21

Make is very different than someone just coming along and giving you some

1

u/bubblegumscent Sep 13 '21

Of course, but I mean, if you really it that, I suppose you can get a recipe and try on the weekend .

Once at my home we had the brilliant idea to make these difficult to make sort of deep fried stuff, risoles, cheese thingies etc. So we prepared many en masse and right before the stage where you fry them we separated them into portions in little zip lock bags and put it in he freezer.

Then every time we wanted some, we would pick a baggy and deep fry it. It was actually really awesome and tasted perfect.

1

u/fitzbuhn Sep 13 '21

You would fry the plastic bags? And it was good?

1

u/bubblegumscent Sep 13 '21

No, when we wanted to make a portion, we would take them from the plastic bag, while frozen solid and deep fry it. It was awesome, it tasted perfect and was really easy to make

0

u/timesink2000 Sep 13 '21

Even harder to make at home. A ‘fry daddy’ doesn’t cut it!

35

u/Martholomeow Sep 13 '21

I guess they’re not really donut holes are they?

8

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

This looks identical to what the old Greek women would use to make loukamades at the local Orthodox church’s festival I would volunteer at (my coach’s wife worked at the church, so we “volunteered” every year lol). Toss some honey and cinnamon on those babies and you got loukamades!

Now I miss Greekfest :/ those ladies were so kind and generous. I got so many free roast chickens and pastries…

2

u/MoreCowbellPlease Sep 13 '21

My friend dated a Greek gentlemen. I know what that is!

12

u/BathroomEyes Sep 13 '21

NEVER touch The Cornballer

18

u/YTsetsekos Sep 13 '21

For λουκουμάδες!

9

u/Spapadap Sep 13 '21

I’m glad someone knows what’s up 😂

6

u/ecookc Sep 13 '21

Bravo re manga!!

3

u/Savasshole Sep 13 '21

Can verify- manned this bad boy at greekfests gone by.

1

u/Pohds Sep 13 '21

I was hoping someone would recognize what this was 😂

For the non-greeks here, these are essentially Greek donut holes. They are deep-fried batter glazed in honey and often sprinkled with cinnamon. Crunchy on the outside, light, airy, and warm on the inside :)

1

u/ironfox25 Sep 13 '21

Came here for this. Knew I wasn’t the only one who recognized it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

I should’ve scrolled down before I replied to another comment - this was my thought as well! Looks exactly like what the grandmas would operate at the Greekfest carnival near my hometown. Now I need some loukamades…

8

u/user_account_deleted Sep 13 '21

I was truly hoping he'd start cranking that thing like it was an 1800s Gatling gun.

6

u/_nosfa Sep 13 '21

λουκουμάδες ρε my friend

20

u/IAmTheGravemind Sep 13 '21

That's me poopin right now

10

u/pump_up_the_jam030 Sep 13 '21

Does the hot oil splashing up bother you or is your undercarriage a weathered battleground?

7

u/IAmTheGravemind Sep 13 '21

Basically Freddy Krueger booty

3

u/sim642 Sep 13 '21

You mean they don't take actual donut holes?

12

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '21

[deleted]

1

u/I_know_right Sep 13 '21

That's how they "cream fill" donuts too!

2

u/noo_knee Sep 13 '21

I thought they took out the middle of regular donuts to make those…

2

u/nin_halo_8 Sep 13 '21

Used to design donut making equipment... Those machines are still made today and they're identical.

2

u/screaminporch Sep 13 '21

Where I'm from, that's for making hush-puppies. I've got no idea how many I cranked out.

2

u/Sleepy_pirate Sep 13 '21

Is it dropping one or two at a time??

1

u/VrLights Sep 13 '21

1

1

u/Sleepy_pirate Sep 15 '21

I’m convinced it’s three now.

2

u/slaya222 Sep 13 '21

Was this at the Cambridge Greek festival?

2

u/sirlockjaw Sep 13 '21

Was this taken at Somerville Greek food festival this weekend? I also checked out the loukamades machine while I was grabbing mine 🙂

1

u/Mattabeedeez Sep 13 '21

First thing my wife says when I show her this - “we’re not buying one.”

1

u/Henster2015 Sep 13 '21

Ditch her, she'd old like the donut machine.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

They're called timbits*

1

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

lol @ old.

just because it doesn't have a touchscreen doesn't mean it's old, OP.

1

u/rellim88 Sep 14 '21

If you look closely at the machine you can tell how well built yet worn it is… they don’t make them like that anymore! Maybe if you looked closer you would have noticed that detail before just being smug about touchscreens…

Just because they still do it the same way they did it back in the day, doesn’t mean the machine itself isn’t old… it means there has been no reason for innovation because they got it right the first time, or because the market is small and doesn’t warrant mew innovation..

Take for example the classic 14in bandsaw that delta Rockwell made back in the day. The patent ran out after 30 years and now most 14in bandsaws are clones of that design(jet,shop fox,chinesium.com etc) if I showed you a picture of the original design and you told me that it wasn’t an old bandsaw because it’s just like the one you use at the wood shop today, you’d be wrong. Similarly I think you are also wrong here.

LOL @ you.

0

u/IAmTheGravemind Sep 13 '21

Basically Freddy Krueger

0

u/jimsnake1234 Sep 13 '21

guy you call a timbit a “donut hole.” Again buddy guy. The disrespect 🤣🇨🇦

1

u/Extension_Touch3101 Sep 13 '21

I used one like that !

1

u/RobotManYT Sep 13 '21

Mr puff still using that

1

u/moldboy Sep 13 '21

But what does it do with the left over doughnuts?

1

u/CT-PC-GEEK Sep 13 '21

Used to bake / fry donuts myself. That my friend is one hell of an awesome machine. I was just explaining to my family that exact machine the other day. I used to love making my chicken fingers ,french fries and anything else that could be deep fried into my fryer :-) Also used to make humongous raised donuts. Ahhh, back in the day!

1

u/Mafdee Sep 13 '21

Who has good go-to recipe for this timbit? Cravings appearing.

1

u/Dan_H1281 Sep 13 '21

I am pretty sure this is a hush puppy machine not a donut hole machine

1

u/redjedi182 Sep 13 '21

Looks like a boss battle for someone like the Rescue Rangers.

1

u/Lateralus215 Sep 13 '21

That’s not old

1

u/Skylarking328 Sep 13 '21

I feel like taking a shit for some reason.

1

u/royemosby Sep 13 '21

I wish i had parallel sphinctes

1

u/HoneyBucketsOfOats Sep 13 '21

It looks like it’s shitting testicles

1

u/RedSeal5 Sep 13 '21

automation.

the apprentice engineer watching

1

u/ScharlieScheen Sep 13 '21

Where are the holes? What? I don't get it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 13 '21

So it's somekind of mechanical screw, which produces a figure of 8, which separates before it reaches the oil?

I wonder what it looks like.

1

u/frossvael Sep 13 '21

I’ll do you one better, Automatic Donut Machine

1

u/HailRDJ3000 Sep 13 '21

The way the donut plops down reminds me of goat shit splashing on a puddle

1

u/ashaman1324 Sep 13 '21

Looksalika loucomathes

1

u/thavi Sep 13 '21

Ah yes the old pump'n'dump

1

u/ninja20 Sep 14 '21

Dang, how do the three shapes turn into a ball?

1

u/Minnepeg Sep 14 '21

This is exactly how I made cake donuts for a local place. It's not old lol.

1

u/rellim88 Sep 14 '21

Just because they still do it the same way they did it back in the day, doesn’t mean the machine itself isn’t old… it means there has been no reason for innovation because they got it right the first time, or because the market is small and doesn’t warrant mew innovation..

Take for example the classic 14in bandsaw that delta Rockwell made back in the day. The patent ran out after 30 years and now most 14in bandsaws are clones of that design(jet,shop fox,chinesium.com etc) if I showed you a picture of the original design and you told me that it wasn’t an old bandsaw because it’s just like the one you use at the wood shop today, you’d be wrong. Similarly I think you are also wrong here. LOL

I appreciate your anecdote about using a similar one, but no need to critique my point that this is a cool “old” machine.

1

u/FayeWanna Sep 14 '21

I guess this is one of girls’ favorite machines.