2/21/99

the Early risers

For local doughnut makers it's all in a morning's work

By Genna McLaughlin

TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Jim Colaianne shows no signs of tiring after standing for the last six hours.

He is wearing the same white uniform he donned at 11:30 last night, when he roused himself from two hours of sleep to venture into the dark, rainy night.

He arrived at Dainty Pastry Shoppe in Latrobe around midnight, his hands wrapped around a liter of diet soda, and began baking.

He continued through the night - mixing, kneading, pounding, cutting, dipping, spreading and sprinkling until 6 a.m., when the last of 75 dozen doughnuts was finished.

Now, he watches as employee Janet Hood fills the store's glass cases with 25 dozen. Early risers are trickling in for a breakfast doughnut or a dozen to go.

The remaining 50 dozen doughnuts are on the way to stores and businesses in Westmoreland County.

And Colaianne still stands.

"We call this shift `1 till done,'" he says. He's been working the night shift for 20 years and knows well enough he'll be here for another four or five hours decorating cakes.

But he doesn't complain about the lack of sleep or the long hours.

Nobody wants to hear about it, he says.

Besides, he's a doughnut maker, part-owner of Dainty Pastry Shoppe. It's to be expected.

His father, Robert J. Colaianne, used to work long shifts to keep the family bakery stocked with fresh goodies. Before that it was his grandfather, Robert N. Colaianne.

Now Colaianne, his two brothers and his sister run the business. And that means night shifts.

"A person only needs four hours of sleep anyway," the Latrobe father of two says. "The rest is habit."

His brother, Curt Colaianne, who arrives at 2 a.m. each day, agrees.

"We have to bake with the thought that we open the door at 6:30 and will be open till 5 p.m. during the week," he said. "That's a lot of shelves to fill."

And customers expect the doughnuts to be fresh. That's why other bakeries do the same.

At Donut Chef on Route 22 in Salem Township, owners Carl Stoecklein and brother Jim take turns arriving at 4:30 a.m. weekdays and 3 a.m. weekends to fry doughnuts.

"They're hot when we open and that's why customers come," Carl Stoecklein said.

At Dainty Pastry Shoppe, the process begins at 1 a.m. "We have no idea what it's going to be like until we get here," says Jim Colaianne as he reads the order sheets.

Most of tonight's doughnuts are glazed, the bakery's big seller. He twists some of the dough into pretzels and braids before smothering them in the white topping. Customers will swear each shape tastes differently, Colaianne says.

He makes the remaining dough into cream-filled or powdered doughnuts. The cake batter he whips up becomes chocolate cake doughnuts.

By 5 a.m., he is flipping two at a time in a tub of almond-flavored crunch.

"I have nights when I get tired," he says, "but I worked with my dad for 20 years and I never saw him get tired."

His 10-year-old son, Blake, looks at him the same way.

"If I were a brain surgeon he couldn't be prouder of me," Colaianne says, laughing. "I'm a doughnut maker."

Just like the guy on that commercial, the one who says "It's time to make the doughnuts." What parent could top that?

Sean Stipp photos