Basket Break Bakehouse: A basement bakery in PJ selling chewy sourdough doughnuts with unexpected flavour pairings
Hidden out of plain sight, this humble bakery located in the basement of Seventall Mall, Petaling Jaya, serves soughdough goods. The image conjured in your mind is most probably a slice of thick sourdough bread, right? At Basket Break Bakehouse, they do more than that.
While they do offer sourdough rolls and sandwich loaves, they are known for their sourdonuts and sourdough cookies. They adopt a hole-in-the-wall concept, where customers order from a counter, choose their sweets, and go. You can see the spacious kitchen from the outside, with bakers preparing more delicious treats inside.
The founder of this place is none other than Daphne Ng, a millennial who managed to do what many can only dream of— she quit her office job to open a bakery. Prior to being a full time entrepreneur and baker, Daphne spent 5 years in media and digital marketing.
The idea of sourdough doughnuts was intriguing enough, but looking at the flavours available piqued my interest even more. When I arrived at 2pm, most of the doughnuts were already sold out. Even sadder, the customer in front of me in the queue managed to secure the last Twice Baked S’mores Sourdonut. Gah!
What I tried at Basket Break Bakehouse
It’s important for me to say that I only consumed these doughnuts hours after purchase as I was fasting, which may not have been the best way to try these out for the first time. A lot of baked goods are best consumed fresh, and these doughnuts possibly fall within that category.
Looking at the cross-section of the sourdonuts, 2 of them look deflated. This could be attributed to a few things. First, of course, is the amount of time between purchase and consumption. Second is my poor knife skills, which resulted in me adding too much pressure on the doughnuts. Third, I suspect that the weight of the fillings weighed them down a little.
With that out of the way, here’s how they tasted.
The first doughnut I tried was their Pink Guava Vanilla Sourdonut (RM12). I had never tried this flavour combination, so I was excited to take a bite. I was expecting the sweetness of pink guava and fragrant vanilla to blow my mind because in theory, it sounds amazing. However, I couldn’t taste the pink guava nor the vanilla. In fact, there wasn’t a distinctive taste at all.
Out of the 3 flavours I tried, this was the one I liked the least.
The dough itself had that nice chewy texture that makes sourdough stand out from other types of bread. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were still light, even after all those hours just sitting in the box. It’s different from the typical fluffy doughnut texture you get from chain shops, which I highly enjoyed.
Basket Break Bakehouse’s sourdonuts are made in small batches to guarantee high quality bakes every time. Through this, the bakers are able to focus their attention on allowing the dough to properly ferment and rise. Not including the time taken to prepare fillings or toppings, the process of making their sourdonuts takes up to 3 days to complete.
Next is the Peach Rosemary Sourdonut (RM12). The peach filling was cut into tiny cubes, allowing for juicy and fruity bites. To my delight, the two elements paired well with each other and didn’t clash. They managed to create a good balance between the peach and rosemary— the ingredients were able to shine individually and together.
The final flavour I tried was their Peanut Butter + Jam Sourdonut (RM10), which happened to be their last PB&J piece of the day. The way I felt about this doughnut depended on the bite. Some bites were pleasant, with the perfect jam to peanut butter ratio, while some bites were overwhelmingly jam dominant.
Alone, the berry compote was too sour for my liking; those bites made my face scrunch up. The peanut butter aided in mellowing the sourness of the jam, producing a balanced sweet and tart filling. Together, the opposing textures of the chunky peanut butter and smooth berry compote made for a hefty and satisfying sourdonut great for fans of this classic combination.
Final thoughts
All in all, those three sourdonuts had a good amount of sweetness to them. Unlike other doughnut shops, they weren’t overwhelmingly sweet in the slightest, I can see these sourdonuts being something you’d bring to a family event.
I do feel like my experience would’ve been even better if I had eaten them straight away. Alas, it was out of my control. If I ate them fresh, they definitely would’ve still been airy, and the outer coating of sugar wouldn’t have melted due to humidity.
I’d love to try these again someday, but as of now, I don’t see myself rushing to get another box.
Expected damage: RM7.50 – RM22 per pax
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