Donut Dreams
The brilliance of the Brother’s Brew chocolate donut that almost wasn’t
Do you have a favorite food ritual? For many Saturdays over the past decade, my husband and I have split a sandwich and a chocolate donut from Brother’s Brew in Rockport, MA. We have consumed them while seated on the porch abutting the Stapleton Kearns Gallery and Mercury Gallery. (The bench disappeared for a while during COVID, but is back.) The shaded porch is our perch for viewing the steady parade of people enjoying the downtown.
The food ritual star is the chocolate donut. I can honestly say that the donuts from Brother’s Brew—particularly the chocolate ones—are the best I’ve tasted. Eater Boston agreed, claiming these donuts are worth the drive to Cape Ann.
The star has a crispy exterior with the right amount of pleasant crunch. The glaze is important. To me, it’s ideal if it’s a moderately thick and dried coating but not gloppy and moist, and sweet without being toothachingly so. Check. I also prefer a light, cakey interior with a moderately dense crumb. Check. Finally, the size is important. This is also where the Brother’s Brew donut excels. It’s not so small that it quickly “disappears” and you want more, but not so large it leaves you with regret. (We only split the donut to be calorie-kind to our future selves.)
After many years of continued “research,” it was time to talk to donut maker Ross Brackett, who co-owns Brother’s Brew and shares pastry-making responsibilities with his sibling Marc.
The café, which features a 1950s-style diner counter with vintage round stools, has been in the family since Ross’s grandfather ran it as “The Coffee Shop.” His grandfather made donuts in the basement’s bakery space, which still serves the same purpose.
When Ross and Marc refashioned the spot into Brother’s Brew in 2011, they initially nixed the donuts in favor of high-quality coffee and pastries. The disappearance of the donuts triggered shock and dismay from the regular “Rockporters.” I can envision protesters with signs at Five Corners—a place in Rockport where people gather for political picketing—but that didn’t actually happen. The donuts made a hasty return.
While the café serves many other treats—scones, croissants, turnovers, cookies, as well as hearty sandwiches and lunch entrees—the donuts are its calling card. Instead of a friendly hello, “time to make the donuts” is often how people around town will greet Ross, and he’s ok with that. If you were born before 1970, you are likely familiar with Fred the Baker.
Here's what I learned talking to Ross and his mother Terry—her father ran The Coffee Shop and she is co-owner of the attached Brackett’s Ocean View Restaurant—who also plays a key role at the cafe.
Donut making usually begins around 3 a.m.
On high-demand days, such as summer weekends, Marc will start making the donuts shortly after midnight. When one brother starts making the donuts in the wee hours, the other one will take over and make the last batch around 11 a.m. to keep the trays stocked. They try to maintain a plentiful supply of the rainbow sprinkles donuts that are particularly popular with children who visit the café in the afternoon.
It’s a long-haul to make the “raised donuts.”
These are made with a yeasted dough used to produce the chocolate, plain, cinnamon, and blueberry varieties. No, the brothers aren’t tossing frozen dough discs into a fryer or using an all-in-one machine to produce them. They mix the dough and put it through two, 30-minute rises. Next, they cut the dough into smaller chunks, place the dough into a proofing room to rise, roll out the dough, cut the donuts, proof the donuts to rise again, cook them, glaze them, and then sprinkle them with toppings. Quite the process, I’d say.
The brothers approach their craft somewhat differently.
Terry can tell by looking at a tray of donuts which son made them. She says Marc makes donuts with a uniform appearance. “When I make the donuts, they look really homemade,” Ross says. “They will be oval-round, with pieces hanging off the sides.” Then he revealed what might be the secret of the chocolate donuts’ appeal: “My chocolate donuts have a bit more grease in them, and to me, they taste better that way.”
People in Rockport like their donuts a lot.
Most summer days, the brothers make between 100 to 150 pounds of donuts, which includes both raised and cake varieties. According to the experts at donutbusinessconsultation.com, a pound of donuts equals 9 to 10 donuts, so if that data point applies here, the brothers are making more than 1,000 donuts on some days.
On one occasion, they made a stunning order of 2,400 donuts for the yacht club (think small sailboats and lessons for junior sailors) to distribute in boxes of 6 donuts to members at home during COVID, and it was all-hands-on-deck for the Brothers Brew crew.
You might be surprised what the locals like.
“The morning rush is mostly locals, and they can’t get enough of the plain and the old-fashioned cinnamon donuts,” Ross says. With an amused demeanor, he recalled for me when Marc once produced a glazed sriracha donut, which was also a big hit but not to his liking. “I’m not a fan of spicy, sweet foods,” he said.
Recent new flavors include strawberry cheesecake and cherry-filled. Ross is planning to try making a Nutella-filled donut soon.
Leftover donuts is a way to make friends.
Ross says they do different things with any donuts left at the end of the day. “Sometimes I take a picture and post it online, and say we have free donuts, and people will come in for them even though the café is closed. If it’s on a day when Brackett’s restaurant is open, we put the trays out on a table for people dining here to take. Other times, we will bring them to Action, a shelter in Gloucester, or drop them off at the coast guard station.”
Exposure to donuts does not reduce their appeal.
I’ve heard some people say they lose interest in the food they spend so much time making. Ross assures me this is absolutely not the case for him. “After I cut them, put them in the fryer, then transfer them to the glazing unit, they are warm, and they just look so delicious,” he says. “It’s hard to not eat a glazed donut!”
It’s not all about donuts.
Their blueberry, cranberry orange, blueberry lemon, strawberry lemon, and cardamom scones are quite popular. So are the turnovers, coffee rolls, and cookies (the chocolate chip ones are also story worthy, but I discovered them after I wrote this love letter to chocolate chip cookies).
Ross is planning to experiment over the next year, trialing thicker cookies with fillings, homemade Pop-Tarts, and bar cookies. Note: The Palate & Palette staff is always available for testing.
These people take their coffee very seriously too.
An adjunct to all the donut talk, Terry and Ross laughed telling me about their first coffee purveyor. Their search for a small, local roaster of coffee they once sampled led them into the New Hampshire wilderness. “We drive down a narrow dirt road, trees everywhere, and finally come to this guy's house. We thought for sure we were in the wrong place.”
The Bracketts had in fact arrived at Blackbear Coffee Roasters, housed in a barn outfitted with—surprisingly—homemade contraptions to control humidity. The roaster, who also worked as a piano mover, helped them get their coffee program up and running, which included developing the “Dark Sin” roast that has a loyal following.
Blackbear Coffee was eventually sold and the Bracketts subsequently sought supplies from Hogan Brothers Coffee Roasters in Framingham, MA. Therefore, they repeated the process of choosing roasts with the preferred acidity and grind size and then perfecting the brewing time. Hogan Brothers also replicated the much-loved Dark Sin roast. Ross is not a coffee snob, but he has high standards for the coffee they serve. He is practically offended by lousy coffee he calls “watered-down bean juice.”
The action is at the counter.
Sitting on a vintage counter stool and spinning old-school style to your heart’s delight, you get a prime view of the donut trays.
There’s a fun buzz, you might run into someone you know, and you may need to convince a tourist to order both a chocolate and a plain cinnamon donut to get the full donut experience. When the staff photographer went behind the counter to get a close-up shot of the donuts, a server said to the customers, “The donuts are so good, they have their own paparazzi.”
Where to find Brother’s Brew
25 Main St., Rockport, MA
facebook.com/BrothersBrew
@brothersbrewcoffeeshop
On behalf of the Brackett’s and Brothers’ Brew Crew, we want to thank you for highlighting our business and our passion. We appreciate your patronage over the years, and we can’t wait to serve you soon!!
Beauty in donuts! Even a diabetic can appreciate the photos!