Move over NYC: Buffalo bagels are here
EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WIVB) — A local bagel shop in East Aurora is finding success kneading their own path: creating what they call a “Buffalo bagel.”
We have Buffalo pizza … and of course, Buffalo wings.
But what is a Buffalo bagel?
“Our bagels have a little more ‘oomph’ to them,” Joe White said, the owner and head baker at Dopest Dough. “You’re going to shatter through that first layer of shiny, goldy, crackly crust and then you’re going to get that really nice soft, chewy interior that you’re not going to find anywhere else I’m fairly certain.”
And that bagel starts with a little plastic container filled with a pudding-like, sticky mixture.
“The key to our success is this little 50 grams of goo,” White said.
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White’s sourdough starter, which is essential to making his bagels and sourdough bread, came from his brother years ago.
“He just wanted to make some pizzas,” Joe said about where the starter came from. “He gave me a little bit, and I had no idea what to do with it.”
White is a former musician and didn’t touch the starter for years. But after surgery to both his wrists for carpal tunnel syndrome, he turned to it.
“It was a self-prescribed therapy,” he said, about starting to bake.
Eventually, he saw a hole in the market for something with a hole: bagels.
And Dopest Dough was born.
“It just means it’s really good folks,” he joked about the name. “Don’t worry, we’re not putting anything in the bagels that we shouldn’t be.”
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Joe and his wife Anna White are currently the only full-time people behind the operation.
“I think the big difference with our bagels is, it feels actually like a meal,” Anna said.
They started as a wholesaler, and are now in six cafes across WNY. Then, they opened a storefront in East Aurora. Right now, they’re open Saturdays and Sundays, selling their plain, sesame, everything, poppy and some other interestingly flavored bagels.
“A bagel I don’t think anyone else is making is called a ‘hot grandma bagel,'” White said. “It’s got Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp, house-made hot honey and toasted sesame seeds.”
They also use a modified starch, instead of an egg wash, to keep their toppings on. That mixture makes their bagels vegan, but also leads to high topping retention.
They churn out about 2,000 bagels a week and all of them are made with local ingredients, including their flour and honey. But expect much more from them soon.
“We’re building a state-of-the-art facility in the back of our building,” White said.
Within the year, all new equipment will allow them to make many more bagels, getting them into more cafes and expanding their Dopest Dough storefront into other communities.
“It’s the dopest,” White said. “It’s the best.”
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Kelsey Anderson is an award-winning anchor who came back home to Buffalo in 2018. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.
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