AMHERST -- Did you know one that one of The Daily Meal's America's 50 Best Bakeries -- rated number 12, actually -- is right here?
Kiedrowski's Simply Delicious Bakery, founded in 1984 by Tim and Terri Kiedrowski, shows up as the only Ohio bakery on the list. The Kiedrowskis are life-long Lorain County residents and say that the bakery is like "stepping into your grandmother's kitchen where old-world memories were made and cherished.
The Daily Meal described Kiedrowski's as follows: It is meant to evoke memories of eating grandma's baked goods, and at the shop you'll find comfort foods like chocolate turtles, rockslide brownies, apple turnovers, Bavarian cream-filled donuts, and maple bacon cream sticks. Kiedrowski's is known for its trademarked Snoogle, which is a Lady Locks cookie and cheese Danish hybrid that's shaped into a stick and filled with cream. What started as a happy accident of having leftover lady locks and Danish ingredients turned into their best-selling item. And be sure to pick up some cinnamon apple raisin bread on the way home.
The Daily Meal analyzed more than 6,000 retail bakeries nationwide and turned its attention to America's finest bread and pastry institutions.
It sorted through more than 1,400 bakeries and whittled it down to America's top 50 using the criteria of: whether they bake both breads and pastries -- they didn't exclude them if they don't however -- originality, how long they've been around for, if they have notable and award-winning chefs, if they make all their baked goods from scratch, and their buzz factor.
They also brought in a panel of experts, including Francois Payard, Dominique Ansel, Pichet Ong, and Eric Kayser to tell they what they think makes for a perfect bakery and also suggest some of their favorites.
At the end of the day, the list hits most of the major cities, but also spans the country's small towns, from Oakmont, PA to Sioux Falls.
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