Doughnuts, handmade and fried fresh in Bigfork

They’re glazed, cakey and fried in Bigfork.

Dan Foster calls the pink frosted ones with coconut his “pink feather boas” and they might be some of the only doughnuts made fresh in the Flathead Valley.

In addition to cake doughnuts, Dan and his wife Monique will soon be offering raised, old fashioned and gluten-free doughnut options out of their Bad Dog Bakery.

Dan’s perfected his doughnut recipe over the last eight months and had it ready just as the couple opened the doors of their Bigfork shop.

The Fosters moved from their Kalispell location to 35 Village Lane in Bigfork three weeks ago.

“We thought we’d have a much bigger commercial business in Kalispell, but it turns out we have a bigger commercial business in Bigfork,” Monique said. “So now instead of half an hour to get to work, now it takes three minutes. It’s nice.”

Blondie’s, Ken’s Coffee, Take-Out Hollywood and the Culinary Design Studio in Bigfork and the CHS farm store in Kalispell purchase Bad Dog Bakery bread and pastries.

The Bakery has operated since October 2010. Their basement bakery in Kalispell made it difficult to sell to customers out of the shop, so the Fosters are enjoying the new storefront access they get to sell out of.

They offer everything from Calzones to “dog” claws (bear claws). And the doughnuts came about sort of by happenstance.

The equipment came first, enough to open five doughnut shops.

“It was one of those things where it was like, ‘are you sure you want to sell this to me?’” Dan said. “It was pennies on the dollar.”

The man who sold them the equipment wanted to open doughnut shops all over the valley, but health issues prevented him from starting up the shops. He sold the Fosters the equipment at a price they couldn’t turn down.

At first Dan was just going to use the bakery equipment and sell off all the doughnut making items.

But the man told the Fosters to at least try it.

“That’s when Dan’s wheels started turning,” Monique said.

Dan started counting up the places that sell doughnuts in the Flathead and realized only grocery stores sold them.

“There are no doughnut shops here,” Dan said. “A lot of the doughnuts in the grocery stores are frozen and reheated.”

Each doughnut at Bad Dog Bakery is kneaded and hand-cranked out of a doughnut dropper into the doughnut frier and hand-glazed by Dan. It’s just one of the hand-made goods the Fosters want to make themselves known for. Meat and vegetable calzones, and pasties like leek and chicken and porter beef will also on the menu.

Calzones are made to order for lunch and can be reserved ahead of time by calling the bakery at 837-0400.