A Taste of Home

Writing by Kaitlyn Hardy 

Photography by Justin Negard

It’s 9:00 in the morning, about three hours into baker Nora Gyarmathy’s day. Loaves of bread have been proofing for hours; linzer cookie dough sits in the fridge; gluten-free chocolate s’mores cookies lay upon a silver baking sheet, wafting their irresistible scent through 351 Bakery’s kitchen – it’s Gyarmathy’s manifestation of a dream. 

“I’ve always wanted to be here, and now I’m here,” she says. 

At 19 years old, Gyarmathy left her home in Hungary, fueled by a hunger for satisfying the hungry (especially those with a sweet tooth). Today, she owns her own business, 351 Bakery in Katonah, located in a white house just up the road from King Kone, and has been facing gratifying moments nearly every day since opening. 

“I got to make a beautiful three-tier cake for a wedding the other day,” she says. “I know bakers do that every day, but for me, it was such a big moment because those are big events, and people are trusting me with it.”

Junior chef

As a child growing up in Hungary, Gyarmathy loved to bake. 

“My mom always cooked with me, but when I was ten, I started baking by myself,” she remembers. “My mom had to work, so I was left home alone. We had just moved from a small apartment to a big house, and everything was so new, and I was afraid. So to occupy myself, I started baking from a cookbook, and I loved it. I loved the fact that when they [Gyarmathy’s parents] got home, they were so surprised. And I didn’t burn down the kitchen, so that was good!” 

In 2015, she moved to the United States to work in the kitchen of the Larchmont Yacht Club. Her uncle was the general manager, and he hired her to be the pastry chef. 

“They didn’t have a pastry department, so they were buying their desserts,” she explains. “He knew I was really interested in baking, so he gave me the opportunity to do their desserts.” 

What started as a plan to stay in the U.S. for one year somehow turned into two. 

“They gave me more and more tasks, like creating the menu, so I got more of a serious position there,” she says. 

Once Gyarmathy discovered the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, those two years turned into an indeterminate, ongoing future in the U.S. A year and a half after she arrived in New York, she became a CIA student. 

“It was amazing, but the hardest two years of my life, probably,” she recalls. 

During those two years, Gyarmathy learned a little about everything: the chemistry of complicated creations such as chocolates and breads, the ins and outs of every delectable pastry from scones to biscotti, the secret to mastering pies, the patience and techniques required to make layer cakes, how to decorate a cake, creating sugar sculptures, etc. 

“There’s chocolate, there’s bread, and there’s so many other things, so they teach you a little bit of everything, and then you find your own area where you can specialize in the future,” she explains. 

Gyarmathy, however, decided to specialize in a myriad of baking styles. Now the owner of her own bakery, she makes and sells baked goods such as cookies, muffins, scones, pies and breads, as well as cakes and dessert platters for weddings, parties and other events. And she’s begun experimenting with a number of different recipes to make quality gluten-free treats, such as cakes, muffins, scones and cookies (including the previously mentioned chocolate s’mores cookies). 

“I’m trying to incorporate gluten-free baking in every way that I can,” she says. “Most of the time, when you try them from the grocery store, they’re usually not that great, and they’re dry. So I’m trying to make them enjoyable.”

From garage to gourmet

After graduating from CIA in 2017 and before opening 351 Bakery, Gyarmathy interned at La Tulipe for three months, then she worked at The Poppery in Mount Kisco for about two years. She then spent one year at Bobo’s Cafe in Somers, making their pastries and specialty items. Throughout this time, she also worked at several restaurants, making desserts in the mornings, then waitressing and bartending in the evenings – all while fulfilling custom orders on the side. 

After nearly four years of juggling multiple jobs without having the time she wanted for baking, Gyarmathy was exhausted. She and her boyfriend, Anthony Legato, who previously owned a pizza restaurant, frequently talked about opening their own bakery at some point in the future. But one day, they decided talking about it wasn’t going to go very far; they needed to set their plans into motion. And they did just that. 

In October 2022, Gyarmathy received her bakery license and announced on social media that she was officially taking orders. It was perfect timing.

“Last Thanksgiving, we had a huge order of pies and cookies and stuff,” she remembers. “From there, we just started getting more and more orders.” 

When the influx of orders became too much for her home kitchen to handle, Legato, who now owns a construction and landscaping business, and his cousin, who also owns a construction business, began gutting Gyarmathy’s 25’ x 20’ garage and turning it into a full kitchen fit for all her baking needs. It took about eight months to complete, and it now features three vast wooden counters, two proof boxes, three deck ovens for bread, two gleaming silver ovens (which she calls her “little babies”), two large industrial mixers, a walk-in fridge, a freezer and a sink. Plus, there are countless last-minute cookware items she didn’t even know she needed until she did. 

“We ordered from Webstaurant every single day.” 

Once the kitchen was complete, Gyarmathy said it was “like a dream come true.” 

“It’s still weird to be in here –this is mine; this is my kitchen,” she marvels.

Her piece of the pie

With the kitchen transformation complete, 351 Bakery (named for her and her boyfriend’s favorite numbers, three and 15, turned backwards) officially opened in January 2023. 

Until June 2023, Gyarmathy also sold her baked goods wholesale through Bobo’s, making muffins, other breakfast pastries and gluten-free breads. She also sold health-conscious treats, such as sweet potato brownies and granola, to Green Life in Mamaroneck. 

Gyarmathy now sells custom orders, which must be requested at least two days in advance, through her Instagram account: @351_bakery. 

Gyarmathy’s customer base started out as friends and family, then spread through word of mouth. As her orders grew, occasional customers turned into regulars who couldn’t help but come back for Gyarmathy’s creations. 

“Every time someone picks up an order and they let me know that they loved it, it’s an ‘Oh my God’ feeling; I get chills thinking about it,” she says. “They’ll say things like, ‘This was amazing, this was so beautiful,’ or ‘It was so delicious, everyone ate it, everyone loved it.’ It’s always so rewarding.”  

In September, she also began selling at Down to Earth’s Sunday farmer’s market in Rye.

Returning to her roots

At Down to Earth, Gyarmathy is cautiously, yet excitedly, testing the market for something near and dear to her heart: baked goods and desserts from her own Hungarian heritage. This includes traditional recipes, such as her great-grandmother’s Linzer cookies, tea cakes, Hungarian cheese bites and babka.

“Here [in the U.S.], when you order a wedding cake or a birthday cake, it’s mostly chocolate, vanilla, sprinkles, red velvet,” she says. “Hungarian cakes are different because they’re less sweet and use more ingredients – there are a lot of spices and nuts. And there are many different layers and less sponge, making the cake moister and lighter.” 

“I have one favorite cake, and that’s a walnut cake,” she continues. “It’s a very thin layer of walnut [sponge cake], a very light buttercream with walnut filling, and the top is covered with marzipan – we use a lot of marzipan. There’s also the Zacher cake, which is a chocolate cake with homemade apricot jam and ganache on top.” 

Prior to September, Gyarmathy says she incorporated other Hungarian and European flavors into several of her other products, but she didn’t advertise any items as specifically “Hungarian,” and these cakes were ordered rarely in comparison to other cakes. 

“It’s hard to advertise something people might not know,” she explains. “And in my experience, people aren’t going to order what they don’t know.” 

So, at the farmer’s market, she sets out samples of various Hungarian goods that she’s baked, and the response has been surprising. 

“Once they try it, they usually leave with a little bag of goods, which I’m very happy about,” she says.

Pie in the sky

“Every single time I have a difficulty, I just see the bigger picture, my dream bakery,” Gyarmathy says. 

The current 351 Bakery is one giant step towards Gyarmathy’s “dream bakery” becoming a reality. 

In this dream, she’s owning and operating her own “farm bakery,” which would have a storefront fit with a patio, a garden to grow herbs she can use in her baking, and animals roaming through the back – a little slice of heaven serving little slices of heaven. 

“I love when people get together to have a nice meal or a nice coffee,” she notes. “I want to have a hangout spot where people feel very free and calm, and it’s just a good environment.” 

This article was published in the November/December 2023 print edition of Connect to Northern Westchester.