Fluffy, Creamy Polish Doughnuts Are the Stars of This Austin Bakery Pop-Up
There’s a newer Austin bakery pop-up that is all about showcasing the beauty and deliciousness of Polish baked goods. Through Custard Prison, Austin baker Sarah Foremski is sharing her version of paczki with the city.
“I think we all just want to have a community space, make good food, connect with people who want to make cool things they’re passionate about, and most of all, not exploit any one in the process,”
“I wanted to make Polish-inspired filled donuts, with wacky and wild flavors that would wow people,” Foremski writes to Eater. “I’m not saying I’m trying to be the most traditional Polish anything, but I try to do nods to Poland when I can, because everyone deserves to feel a hug from babcia [Ed. note: Polish for “grandmother”] in the form of a doughnut sometimes.”
Paczki are lush and dense yeasted doughnuts typically filled with jam or cream that are Polish by origin. “[They] may look like regular filled brioche-style doughnuts, but are much fluffier and richer in the flavor of the dough,” Foremski describes. In America, the baked good is popular in regions with big Polish populations, including Detroit and Chicago.
Foremski had been a former barista who became a baker. She had worked in Denver cafe Little Owl Coffee where she made brioche doughnuts. In Austin, she was most recently the lead pastry chef at Caribbean restaurant Canje, and is now working as a bakery at French-Louisianan restaurant Epicerie.
Rounding out the Custard Prison team is business manager Becky Reeves, Mari Maki (who currently also works at Canje), and Paul Wojciechowsk, who is a chef at New American restaurant Hestia and runs Polish food pop-up Popiol, which had started in Portland. Both Foremski and Wojciechowsk are Polish themselves.
Custard Prison’s previous pop-up menus have included paczki in flavors like the maple custard doughnut with a salty butter-maple glaze, whipped cream, and a cherry; a paczki filled with pistachio-white chocolate ganache; a rose-glazed and strawberry jam-filled doughnut with glitter; and another with blueberry compote with a malted sugar coating. The pop-ups have also included pierogi and other savory items.
The Custard Prison’s team has been running pop-ups at East Austin cafe Fleet Coffee, including its first in February. The most recent pop-up was in Houston at the Happy Outlaws Fundraiser Market on April 27. Through their events, they’ve also been vocal about fundraising Palestinian families in Gaza impacted by the ongoing crisis in the region.
Those efforts are in line with how Foremski envisions Custard Prison to function. “I think we all just want to have a community space, make good food, connect with people who want to make cool things they’re passionate about, and most of all, not exploit any one in the process,” she writes. In her eyes, this means running the pop-up like a bakery co-op, where everyone shares in the work and benefits. “I don’t think selling dough is worth traumatizing humans in the process. That’s not a treat for anyone. I don’t think the world needs more bosses. I don’t think we need more people trying to be billionaires. If this business fails, I think we’ll at least go down smiling, probably covered in something sticky. Nice.”
The next Custard Prison pop-up is taking place on Saturday, June 1 at Nomadic Beerworks in the St. Edwards neighborhood from 3 to 7 p.m. or until everything is sold out. Flavors include the Garden Goat with goat cheese, strawberry, and rosemary; a tiramisu; the London Fog with Early Grey tea and orange; and the Butter Boy with gochujang and pickles. Though card is accepted, they prefer cash; plus there will be a donation code for nonprofit Heal Palestine in lieu of tips.
Foremski is working on securing a commissary kitchen, which would mean more consistent pop-ups eventually. Future dates will be shared on its Instagram.
