Bakery makes case for Hanukkah Donut as a latke alternative

It's the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, starting from Sunday night at sundown and going until next Monday evening.

Like many festivals, it has its special foods.  Many of us know about latkes, a potato pancake cooked with oil and served with apple sauce. 

But latkes are not so readily available in other parts of the world, notably Israel. There, the Hanukkah Donut is eaten around this time of year, more traditionally known as sufganiyot. 

Gav Martel, a food blogger and amateur chef, made a thousand sufganiyot at Richmond Kosher Bakery (4119 Bathurst), which go on sale today.

The donuts most resemble jelly donuts you would buy in a donut shop — yeast dough fried in hot oil with a fruit jelly or sometimes custard filling and then topped with powdered sugar. 

"It's tradition to eat foods fried in oil — like latkes — at Hanukkah to symbolize the miracle of the burning oil lamps in the ancient Holy Temple in Jerusalem," said Martel. 

The story of the temple, called the Second Temple, is that it was nearly desecrated by an invading Hellenic Empire sometime between 300-400 BCE. After the desecration, there was only enough oil to light the temple's eternal flame for one day. If the flame were to go out, the temple would no longer be sacred. 

But by what believers say is a miracle, the oil burned for eight days — enough time to make new oil to keep the flame alight and the temple sacred. Hence the significance of the oil.

This is represented in another Hanukkah tradition, the Menorah.

The donuts are traditionally heavier — and often more fattening — than everyday donuts. Modern Judaic pastry chefs are trying to make them lighter. In Israel, chefs will make the donuts smaller — Timbit size, you could say — in an effort to lower the caloric intake.

But only so much can be done. The oil is crucial.

"Baking them is sacrilegious," said Martel.

But that doesn't mean Martel isn't innovating. 

"I like to think outside the box," said Martel.

For the filling, he uses wild blueberry with lemon Mascarpone cheese, pumpkin spice custard or salted caramels.

The donuts themselves are still not the preferred Hanukkah tradition in Toronto, but Martel is seeing them rise in popularity over the past decade or so.