Chicken salt doughnuts? These plush, herby snacks are so much better than they sound

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Every culture has its own fried dough speciality. The Spanish have churros, long ridged batons rolled in cinnamon sugar. The Italians have zeppole, puffy fritters filled with ricotta and citrus. In China, there’s youtiao – hollow sticks made for dunking in warm soy milk.

I may have found Australia’s ultimate contribution to the form: a giant, hand-shaped sourdough ring showered in chicken salt.

It comes from Full Proof, a hole-in-the-wall doughnut shop that has just opened on Llankelly Place, the lively pedestrianised laneway in Potts Point. Full Proof usually offers about half a dozen doughnut varieties, fried to order and served hot while they’re still soft and plush inside.

Behind the counter are Jenifer Thomas-Purll and her daughter Indiarose Thomas. Thomas-Purll, a former cafe owner and private chef, works the dough, while Indi – a former bartender at Paddington’s three-hatted Saint Peter – handles coffee and front of house.

The doughnut recipe is based on one Thomas-Purll would make for family birthdays and celebrations. She’s tweaked it for the shop to use sourdough, which is proofed once overnight and again the next morning. The dough is then rolled into cruller-style loops and cooked in sunflower oil. (A beef tallow-fried doughnut is also in the works.)

The first thing you notice is the size.

“People come up and say ‘oh my god, they’re so big’,” Thomas says, “But they’re light. It’s not like eating a normal stodgy doughnut.”

Unlike the standardised rings that come off the conveyor belt at Krispy Kreme, these are large and lopsided, with a bronze crust and light, springy centre.

Each doughnut is tossed in one of two coatings: cinnamon sugar, made with the more aromatic Ceylon variety of cinnamon, or chicken salt. Full Proof uses a commercial brand of chook salt, but makes it extra roast chicken-y by adding dried rosemary and thyme. It’s intensely flavoured and salty, but not over-seasoned.

Meanwhile, the sweet doughnuts are not too sweet. “We’re trying to cater to a more developed, grown-up palate,” Thomas says. The chocolate doughnut is a good example, made with 72 per cent dark chocolate that’s whipped with mascarpone to create a mousse-like filling. The jam ball is another, stuffed with a zingy strawberry and balsamic jam (or some days, blueberry and rosemary). Both are generously stuffed. Take a bite and watch the sides blow out.

Despite the back and forth of rolling and frying, my doughnuts arrive within five minutes after ordering on two separate visits – no small feat for a two-person team. Although at peak times, around 10am and 2pm, wait times can stretch longer. Arrive too late and you might miss out entirely. “We just keep selling out – it’s been amazing,” says Thomas. “I think we probably underestimated how much people wanted doughnuts.”

For now, drinks are limited to Allpress coffee, though that will soon change.

Thomas was named among Australia’s top bartenders at last year’s Diageo World Class competition, and she’s introducing a cocktail menu in spring. It will include a negroni riff, espresso martini and seasonal spritz, likely paired with spice-coated doughnut holes. The mother-daughter team also plan to extend Full Proof’s opening hours, letting their doughnuts roll into the night.

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