Dobre Dobre: Polish Baking with Laurel Kratochvila & Małgosia Minta
Challah, bagels, bialys – the wonders of Polish baking are known and beloved far and wide. It is, therefore, no surprise that a cookbook about Polish baked goods would make it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Natalia Mętrak-Ruda chatted with baker Laurel Kratochvila and food photographer Małgorzata Minta about the beauty of yeast buns, the simple pleasure of buttered sourdough, and the understanding of Polish-Jewish heritage through bread.
We find some familiar names on the New York Times list of the best cookbooks of 2025: Sami Tamimi established his position as Yotam Ottolenghi’s collaborator and his beautiful book on vegetarian Palestinian cooking Boustany has recently been published in Poland, while Ixta Belfrage (who co-authored Ottolenghi’s Flavour) published her newest Brazilian cookbook entitled Fusāo, as well as some very familiar themes (such as pasta and curry). Yet among this varied collection of fourteen delicious tomes readers will also find books on other culinary cultures that surely deserve a place on the global map: Ozoz Sokob’s Chop Chop tells the story of traditional Nigerian food, while Laurel Kratochvila’s Dobre Dobre focuses on the glorious art of Polish baking.
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Cover and spread from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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We spoke to Laurel, an American-born, Berlin-based writer and baker. Her previous book, New European Baking, includes 99 recipes for breads, brioches, and pastries. She is also an entrepreneur and owns Fine Bagels, a New York-style bagel joint on Warschauerstrasse (Warsaw Street). We also talked with photographer Małgosia Minta, one of Poland’s most prolific food writers. Together, we discussed the beauty of yeast buns, the simple pleasure of buttered sourdough, and understanding Polish-Jewish heritage through bread.
Chałka and challah
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Photo from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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The Polish bakery is one of those magical places where you find mind-boggling variety, inviting smells, people queueing every morning… It might not be as famous as, say, the French boulangerie, but Laurel was fascinated by the familiarity and nostalgia, which then turned into an actual crush – and a career in baking.
At first, she was amazed to encounter some of the foods that she had known in the States as Ashkenazi Jewish: challah, onion rolls (cebularze), matzah. She recognised this connection between Polish and Ashkenazi cultures as something that could help us understand our shared history better. Laurel explains:
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To speak about Polish baking – modern, traditional, or even homemade – without talking about Jewish baking, creates an incomplete story. And vice versa. Our communities were so intertwined in prewar Poland, particularly in the baking profession, that it's really a question of telling a full story. It isn't about correcting anyone or making claims, it's about painting a bigger picture and maybe making connections through our shared heritage.
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Bialy (cebularz) from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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One of the most fascinating – and most delicious – examples of this overlap are challah and chałka: while the Jewish bread had to stay parve (neither dairy, nor meaty) so it could be eaten with meat, Polish chałka dough is made with butter and milk, and often topped with a sweet streusel. Laurel includes recipes for both, as well as a modern, vegan recipe for chałka from Zosia Barto’s Zaczyn bakery in Kraków. Another example is the bialy. This savoury pastry with fried onions that came to New York from eastern Poland, but is now virtually unknown there. It has been making a bit of a comeback thanks to artisan bakers such as Monika Walecka from the famous Cała w mące bakery in the lovely Żoliborz district of Warsaw. In the book Laurel presents her beet, horseradish and summer greens version, which sounds absolutely amazing – and very Polish – in its combination of flavours.
Artisan breads have risen
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Babka (and a cat) from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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Since falling in love with baking, having other bakers contribute to her book has been a part of Laurel’s project to put Polish and Central European baking on the map.
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I became completely enchanted by the broad variety of baking The incredible sourdough rye breads, the whole variety of drożdżówki [yeast buns], the use of seasonal fruit, the unexpected flavours like rose paste. Let's just say I got a crush.
She wasn’t alone on this journey, but she kept learning from various artisans who have been opening bakeries around the country for the past decade.
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I couldn't have written this book without the participation of so many bakers in Poland who agreed to speak to me and share with me. One thing I wanted people to see was the outstanding contemporary artisan bakery culture in Poland. The sourdough game is on point, the pastry at peak technique, and the new generation's sourcing of good flours, grains, and raw materials is in line with my food values.
She not only recommends the readers to visit her favourite spots, such as Schrupane in Tarnów, Dej in Warsaw, Plon in Wrocław or Pokusa in Gdynia, but also included recipes developed by Polish artisans in her cookbook.
And so, in Dobre Dobre we can encounter recipes for the famous jagodzianki from Warsaw’s Rano bakery; for łódzki żulik bread with coffee and raisins baked by Ania Słonka and dedicated to the memory of her late husband Mateusz from the Okruchy bakery in Łódź; and the quick version of traditional gingerbread by Małgosia Minta, who’s also responsible for the organic, natural photographs in the book.
The beauty of bread
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Sourdough bread from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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Małgosia recognises that the beauty of bread lays in its simplicity:
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To make a perfect loaf you need just a few ingredients: water, flour, salt and time. And usually how we like to enjoy or appreciate a perfect bun or bread is also the simplest way: with butter or olive oil, or just on its own, when it is still warm. I guess we followed that idea with the photos, trying to keep things simple, but at the same time not sterilely cold. To make the bread or bun the main character of the frame, not overshadow it with too many decorations.
Laurel aimed for a contemporary book, and she looks at baking with a modern lens. But bread or cakes often have some nostalgia in them, or memories they evoke. This we reflected in the props — the colours, the little accessories, the plates. Like in the rhyme: something new and something old.
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Kaiser rolls from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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One of her favourite photos – bułki poznańskie – is a good example of this approach: just a basket of fluffy rolls on a white-and-blue checkered tablecloth and a plate with gherkins (ogórki) and slices of cheese in the corner: I think every Pole will recognise this simple, nostalgic, and delicious breakfast spread. I instantly fell in love with the picture of rogale maślane (crescent shaped buttery buns) which also shows a breakfast table with soft-boiled eggs, twaróg (white cheese) and radishes bathing in the soft morning light. And trust me – when you see the golden, glossy fruit buns that are the pride and joy of the Polish pastry section, you will want to make them straight away.
Polish pride
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Karpatka cake from 'Dobre Dobre: Baking from Poland and Beyond' by Laurel Kratochvila (author) and Małgosia Minta (photographer), photo: Małgosia Minta / Chronicle Books promotional materials
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When it comes to picking a recipe to start with, Małgosia recommends taking a look at what she believes should be our national pride – the Kraków cheesecake, totally different to the New York or Basque one, with texture given by a super Polish product: curd cheese, or ‘twaróg’, which gives it a hint of tanginess. Dobre Dobre also includes a recipe for karpatka – a layered choux and cream cake which has long been dismissed as an old-fashioned ‘grandma recipe’, but now is taking the Internet (and Polish coffee shops) by storm. Another solid Polish recipe is for pierniki toruńskie – soft iced gingerbread cookies from Toruń which are so famous they have two museums and a tourist trail dedicated to them.
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Jagodzianka (bilberry bun), photo: Zbigniew Lewczak / Getty Images
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Laurel says jagodzianki (bilberry buns) are definitely what Poland should be known for yet recommends that beginners start with simpler cookies or cakes, such as szarlotka (Shortcrust Apple Cake), piaskowe ciasto z owocami (Loaf Crumb Cake with Fruit) or maybe the signature Ashkenazi hamantaschen cookies traditionally baked for Purim. When you find your groove and knead your way into yeast doughs, and then work all the way up to using rozczyn and poolish (a technique the French borrowed from the Poles to make their baguettes) – then, well, the world is your oyster. Or, rather, your loaf.