The dough, made from stone ground spelt flour, rises slowly, capturing wild yeast from the surrounding air. The baker develops it gently during a 40-hour process using artisanal techniques like autolyse, fermentation and poolish.
But this is no French bakery. It’s a doughnut shop where chef Brooke Desprez elevates one of America’s favorite junk foods to an ethereal plane. That dough gets fried in organic coconut oil and topped with housemade glazes, jams and icings.
“It’s not a sour dough but it’s the oldest kind of dough. If you go back many, many years that’s the original dough,” says Desprez. “I just love that feeling of raising something so humble up to being something important, I think that’s special.”
She has no culinary degree, but Desprez was a caterer for years before she helped found Sidecar Doughnuts in Costa Mesa and Los Angeles, another spot with a hip, gourmet take on the treat. She has developed all new recipes for this project, a family business.
Husband Victor Desprez, a former outdoor apparel guy, will lend his creative talents. Her daughter Hailey Desprez, 22, will work as a manager and her nephew Jon Desprez, 29, will manage the coffee program. Son Hunter Desprez, 18, still a student at Edison High School, will also occasionally lend a hand.
The family lives in Huntington Beach now, but Brooke and Victor met as kids and became sweethearts while attending El Modena High School. Brooke’s family went to church every Sunday and she remembers her Dad happily buying doughnuts after. For her, doughnuts bring back cozy memories and she hopes to recreate that for other families. “People are going to feel the warmth when they come in,” she said. “We just want to make people happy.”
Walk in and you’d never know it was once a laundromat. “I guess we’re like the French Laundry,” quips Victor referring to the famous Napa restaurant. “People still show up with their laundry baskets,” says Hailey.
But there’s no more whiff of bleach or detergent. The air is filled with the heavenly smell of dough rising and coffee brewing. The Desprezs gutted the 2,000-square-foot space and painted it light and bright, adding pops of color: the counter has a blue tile backdrop. The display case is filled with colorful doughnuts. A couple of live citrus trees have been brought in. Seating is minimal, at 12 inside and 8 outside, still it’s guaranteed to be one of the nicest doughnut shop interiors in the county because the Desprezs worked with IDA, Inc. of Long Beach.
At a coffee bar on the left, an Astoria espresso machine — likely worth $9,000 — shows customers that the java is just as important. Jon Desprez worked at The Conservatory in Culver City and buys only organic coffee from them. A whole line of espresso drinks includes perfectly pulled Gibraltars ($3.20) with rich, nutty, deep-roasted coffee flavors and a comforting rosemary honey latte ($4) with house-infused honey, as well as cold brew, drip coffee, espressos, cappuccinos and more. For the tea lovers there are matcha and chai lattes.
At a soft opening on Saturday, Oct. 20, the doughnuts ($3-$3.50 each; $33-$38.50 per dozen) had first-timers over the moon. Maraschino cherry doughnuts with pink dough and glaze had a deep fruit flavor throughout. Bumbleberry doughnuts had a sweet base and a sweet-tart icing while spice doughnuts with pecan topping smelled like Grandma’s kitchen at Christmas.
“I love it and I’m so glad it’s super close to where we are,” said school counselor Aubrey Garcia. “We usually have to go to Newport to get gourmet doughnuts.” Her friend Stefanie Barron came all the way from Riverside to try them.
Oliboli — the name is a play on traditional Dutch doughnuts called oliebollen — will offer 5 yeast and 5 cake style doughnuts including flavors such as cactus pear, pistachio, chocolate, orange, lavender sugar and more. There will also be fry bread ($4) with unusual toppings like peach jam and ricotta cheese, Brooke hopes to roll out more savory choices on the fry bread — sauteed mushroom could be coming soon. And she’ll switch out the spelt with buckwheat, rye and other grains. “We will get it freshly milled,” she said. “Eventually we would like to mill small batches here. We’re all about the dough and the grain.”
Victor says it’s really about the chef. “It’s all about helping Brooke have the right venue,” he says. “This is the right place to show what she does.”
Oliboli Donuts
Find it: 135 W. 1st St., Tustin, 714-760-4876, oliboli.com.
Open: 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily.
