BELFAST—Was it a coincidence that the day I decided to check out The Only Doughnut, a new shop in Belfast, there was only one doughnut left?

Well, to be accurate, one kind of doughnut—a coconut glazed—was left. The entire racks of doughnuts had been sold, cleared out by 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Owner Sally Jaskold was kind of surprised herself. Jaskold, who co-runs the business with Matt Wheeler, began making doughnuts from a commercial kitchen in Belfast and sold them at the United Belfast Farmer’s Market before the idea to turn the business into a brick and mortar establishment took hold. The business is located at 225 Northport Avenue, next to the Aubuchon Hardware Store.

“We opened very quietly in May and it’s just been word of mouth letting people know we’re here,” she said. “I’m just reaching myself the business as I go, but it’s been steady; people love our doughnuts.”

For the last five years Jaskold worked at Moonbat Bakery where more and more customers over time asked her where they could get a good doughnut.

“I asked myself, ‘what kind of business did Belfast not already have that the public needed?’ And that was it,” she said.

Jaskold admitted she’d never made a doughnut in her life. But, a doughnut is a fairly easy recipe, one Jaskold discovered by trial and error in her own kitchen.

“I found a recipe for old-fashioned potato doughnuts and Matt and I tweaked that recipe over and over until it came out right,” she said. “Now all of our doughnuts are made from that recipe with about 10 different homemade glazes we’ve developed. Since opening, Wheeler invented two new flavors: a chocolate doughnut and a citrus doughnut made from orange zest and lemon juice. Occasionally, they’ll also sell doughnut holes and doughnut logs.

But it’s cinnamon sugar that people clamor for.

“If I had my druthers, I’d open at 6 a.m., serve coffee and just serve plain and cinnamon sugar and they’d all be sold out by noon,” she said.

Wheeler works full time for the Penobscot Marine Museum, then works the weekends at The Only Doughnut. Their day starts very early, but it’s a simple process.

“We had a local machinist custom make our doughnut cutter,” said Jaskold. “Matt rolls and cuts, then I fry and we glaze them."

To get your doughnut fix visit: their Facebook page

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com