Doughnut Shop Fills Hole In Green Zone

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Houston Chronicle
May 17, 2008 Couple in Iraq tested recipes until they found one to sell, with coffee
By Leila Fadel, McClatchy-Tribune
BAGHDAD — Inside the heavily fortified Green Zone — where a towering wall rings about 1,300 acres of land to protect U.S. diplomats, contractors, Iraqi officials and soldiers — Ingo Sahlmann and Gaylene Scott sat down for a beer in the garden of their Green Zone home and office.
After the pair consumed a couple of cans, Sahlmann asked, "Wouldn't a doughnut be nice right now?"
An idea was born that Thursday night to the hum of the generator and in the midst of weeks of heavy rocket attacks launched by militias outside the walls: coffee and doughnuts.
For the next two weeks, the pair, in Iraq doing construction management, scoured the Internet, called a pastry chef in the United States and flooded friends and family with phone calls in search of the perfect doughnut recipe. With a hot glazed doughnut, they knew they could bring a piece of home here.
"We started the trials and tribulations of finding a good recipe," said Scott, of Harlan, Ky.
Their Iraqi staff bought fryers and mixers from stores in downtown Baghdad, off limits to the two of them and their Filipino chef, Joseph.
Then Joseph went to work.
The first batch was rock hard and inedible. The second wasn't much better. But after two weeks of kneading dough and experimenting with glazes, they perfected a soft, glazed, deep-fried doughnut.
They put up little signs with arrows pointing toward DoJo's Baghdad Cafe, named for Joseph and doughnuts.
The house is nondescript, save a small storefront sign attached to the house and a laminated piece of paper with the limited menu — 13 doughnuts for $15, chocolate glazed, white laced and strawberry. Of course, there's premium coffee to go along with that.
Because of security concerns, Sahlmann and Scott quashed the idea of putting a Webcam behind the counter so that people could watch their loved ones on the Internet.
"All these cars in our parking lot," said Sahlmann, a native of Germany. "They're potential targets. We need to keep a low profile."
Finally, the cafe's doors opened, and people started to come.
Among them were U.S. diplomats looking for an on-the-go breakfast reminiscent of Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts.
Often, people would drop by before the doors opened at 9 a.m. and well after they closed at 5 p.m. But they'd still get served.
"We're flexible," Scott said. "You need a place to get away from it all."
 
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