Bakery Box

vraamoneyeats
Mar 24, 2019
4 min read

If you guys haven’t heard of Abby Kastrul and Bakery Box yet, you must be living under a rock, because they're the next up and coming biz in the Twin Cities. She’s also making some of the best donuts and baked goods in MN. Yes, I said it.. some of the best in MN! I’ve had her donuts a handful of times, but during my most recent visit, Abby was:

Outside on her front porch 40 degree weather

Wearing a t shirt with no hat or mittens

Cracking jokes after no sleep the night before

Making small talk with friends and new customers she didn't know

All while serving up everything she had to offer.

Could you ask for a more down to earth and committed gal? I don't think so. Her passion is unparalleled and she spends endless amounts of time and effort into developing her recipes, flavors and techniques all while doing this in her own home! If that doesn’t say dedication, I don’t know what does.

Believe it or not, making donuts was never something she thought she’s ever be doing. Even more of a shocker, she says that before she started her business, she didn’t even truly like them!!! For her, she would have rather eaten a bag of Cheetos and lick her orange, dusty fingers dry and feel more satisfied while receiving the same minimal nutritional value. The overly sweet, oily and boring flavors didn’t excite her. That all changed when she decided to make sufganiyot for Hanukkah. They turned out well, but something told in the back of her head told her she could make these so much better. At that point, the research, experiments and trials began. Donuts, cronuts, lamination, proofing, yeast we’re all hot topics that she studied up on. The techniques and ingredients were gathered from multiple different blogs and recipes but she used methods and ratios in Tartine No. 1 to get her going. From there, the practice began. Once she came across her winner, all that was left to do was fry and Bakery Box donuts was born. She absolutely fell in love with how good they were and got tons of positive feedback from friends. She knew right then that she had something special.

Her business philosophy is all about the community and the supportive people around her. Everyone that has helped with the markets she was apart of and just support in general is what keeps her motivated. Her philosophy is also based on the many minimum wage plus tips jobs shes had. She says that she will not work for a company that expects you to give your entire self to them without paying a living wage. “Nobody’s success should be dependent on the marginalization of others.” That’s why she works for herself, on her time, as her own boss. She doesn’t care about profit. All she wants is to live somewhat comfortably and help others do the same. That’s why she sells day olds or misshapen donuts anywhere from free to $3 depending on the circumstance. She’s going to feed hungry people that need a pick me up!

After following her philosophy, she was able to make appearances at monthly pop-up markets which she sold out almost every weekend! As time went by, she nailed down her methods and now does weekly batches outside her house from her cart. She accepts pre-orders on a weekly basis and does porch sales every so often on weekends. Just be sure to follow her on IG for other sales announcements and last minute donut porch sales. She's whipping up everything from donuts, cronuts, croissants, caramel rolls and buns of the vegan and non-vegan varieties. The caramel rolls might actually be her most popular item and believe it or not, it's made from the extra donut dough (see picture below). From how much people love them, she could damn near run her business off those alone! For everything she offers, the entire process is super time consuming and labor intensive from making the dough, proofing overnight, then laminating to 36 layers. But, it’s what she loves doing and will continue to bring her best week after week.

As I mentioned before, she bakes out of her home which gives her some free time between each step of the process. It allows her to work on her own time being able to do what she wants such as playing cribbage, tending to emails, taking a nap, or prepping cookie dough and muffin batter. Since she works from home and absolutely loves what shes's doing, she says she never really feels like she truly working. If you love your job, inspiration and new ideas are always coming to fruition. Her flavor ideas are sparked from childhood favorites of hers and friends. Being able to recreate a nostalgic pastry is what she's after and she usually is able to nail it on the head such. One of which was a blueberry kolache recipe just like her grandma used to make. The ingredients are also an integral part of developing flavors. Abby works with tons of sourdough, eggs, milk and butter and uses local when she can. It's all apart of the process to make her perfect pastries and donuts, which in her mind is a flawless brioche. The donut should be able to stand alone as a brioche bread without leaving a heavy stomach feel. It should be moist, yet flaky and be focused mainly on the dough. If I had to give my two cents, I would say she has absolutely nailed the perfect dough. However, perfecting the frying time is still an aspect she has to master. When you catch her on a good day (most days) the donuts are melt in your mouth delicious with all those qualities she wants in a perfect donut. So make you send her some love and either pre order some goodies or stop by her cart for some damn fine brown butter sourdough brioche donuts unlike anything else in the city.