Artisanal doughnut shop shutting down Delray Beach store

After four-and-a-half years of baking doughnut wizardry at his namesake pastry shop, baker Nani Edry is closing Nani’s Dough in Delray Beach.

Edry announced the end of his artisanal doughnut spot in a Facebook post to followers, adding that his shop will throw a sendoff party on Friday, Aug. 16.

“We would like to start off by saying thank you for all the support and love we felt over the years,” Edry wrote on Facebook. “Nani’s is working on a new project and during this phase we will be closing our Delray Congress location.”

The closing of Nani’s leaves a doughnut-size void in Palm Beach County, where artisanal doughnuts are rare and Dunkin’ chains dominate.

Reached by phone Wednesday morning, Edry says Nani’s Dough, despite “brisk sales” at the shop, stopped challenging him creatively.

“I think it was right after National Doughnut Day [June 7],” Edry recalls. “There was a point where we said, ‘Do we focus on making our doughnut brand bigger, or are we taking away from something more experimental and culinary?’”

For the Dania Beach-raised Edry, the future is still dough. A self-taught pastrymaker who once spent his mornings shaping surfboards on Oahu’s North Shore, he has spent the past five years experimenting with doughnuts, crafting light, fluffy rings from his scratch fermented and sourdough bread recipes. Since 2015, when he opened Nani’s Dough, Edry has trotted out a new head-scratching confection every week: white chocolate mocha (filled with espresso ganache and topped with shortbread crumbs); Leggo My Egg (topped with waffle pieces, an Eggo waffle and maple syrup); and the doughnnabon, a deep-fried, oven-baked Franken-pastry combining a doughnut with a gooey cinnamon bun.

Not every over-the-top creation stuck with sweet-toothed visitors, Edry says. Common flavors sold well (cookies ‘n’ cream, Nutella, plain glazed) but adventurous flavors (mochi green tea, plant-based

superfood) struggled more.

“We’re not here to do the basic, mundane stuff like Boston Cream,” he says. “What I was doing was good, but it’s not enough. People didn’t really see what was going into these products – the hand-pureeing, the fresh fruits – and while some appreciated it, I wish I put up a livestream camera in the bakery for people to

see what really happened.”

Doughnuts are only a “glimpse of what we can make with fermented and sour doughs,” says Edry, who competed with his eyepopping doughnnabon this spring on Food Network’s competition series “Bake You Rich.”

Now Edry is plotting to reinvent his company. After closing the bakery this week, Edry will spend the next three months flying to New York and LA for research. He’s planning a

lounge-style concept with a full-liquor bar and bread-inspired dishes, possibly in Delray Beach, but declined to give more details. Edry says Nani’s Dough is clearing out their inventory with an Aug. 16 sendoff party, which will include discounted doughnuts.

NANI EDRY/COURTESY Leggo My Eggo is one of Nani’s Dough’s over-the-top pastries.