Woah Dough Bakery Review: Your Guests Won't Guess It's Gluten Free

Imagine serving delicious baked goods to your guests that they don't even suspect are gluten free! That's the goal at Woah Dough Bakery, gluten free that doesn’t taste like gluten free. 

I’ve put that to the test.

If you follow my social media, you know that I'm a new grandmother, so baby shower guests seemed like the perfect guinea pigs... I mean participants, eager to try Woah Dough's fare and give me honest feedback. Afterall, I haven't had a real pastry in over a decade, so how could I judge?

Full disclosure, I received samples for this review, but I promise to be impartial.  I will share what impressed me and where I see room for improvement.

About Woah Dough Gluten Free Bakery

Located in Whitby, Ontario, this business started like many gluten free businesses do.  A family member gets diagnosed with celiac, then another, then another.  Then an enterprising loved one seizes the opportunity to serve a community desperately seeking decent food.

Introducing Marilyn Campbell, a classically trained pastry chef who honed her skills in top Toronto hotels. She and her enterprising partner Bill Sutherland picked up the torch. 

Marilyn's daughter-in-law, her granddaughter and Bill's brother are all gluten free and it pained them to see their family members miss out on delicious food. So Marilyn put her skills to work. Woah! Was the response to her delicious confectionaries and the brand was born.

 Is Woah Dough Certified Gluten Free?

Everything is handmade in a dedicated gluten free kitchen and tests at less than 5ppm. All ingredients are non-GMO and there are no artificial flavors. Certification is expensive and the cost would need to be passed on to customers. So Bill and Marilyn, like many gluten free producers, decided against it.

Where to Buy Woah Dough Gluten Free Bakery Products

The Whitby bakery doesn't have a store front yet, but you can order online for delivery in Durham Region or Toronto. Also look for Woah Dough at local markets like White Feather Country Store in Raglan, Willow Tree Farms in Port Perry, McMillan Orchard’s in Ajax and a few other spots around Durham.  And watch the airports! Pearson and Billy Bishop in Toronto may both sell Woah Dough very soon.

Woah Dough Gluten Free Bakery Product Reviews

The Empanada

This is Woah Dough’s pride and joy, and for good reason.  My guests raved over the flakey pastry with the perfect balance between crisp and tender. And filling is packed with flavor. I'll be ordering empanadas when I’m looking for a delicious gluten free treat.

Chicken Pot Pie and Shepherd’s Pie

My gluteny husband Jim made sure to protect a couple of these from the party guests so he could have them to himself.  The pastry on the chicken pot pie is the perfect texture and this is difficult to achieve with gluten free.  And the filling is creamy, delicious and perfectly seasoned. Same for the shepherd’s pie and everyone loved it.

Pecan Butter Tarts

Butter tarts are a weakness for me, so if a bakery can make a good gluten free butter tart, we can be friends.  These are delicious!  Again the secret is the flaky pastry, and the sweet buttery filling with crunchy pecans is the crown on top.  A-ma-zing!

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Maple Bacon Butter Tarts

Welcome to Canada eh!  We love us some maple and bacon.  The signature pastry is the star and adding maple to the classic sweet filling pumps up the flavor another notch.  To be honest I wasn’t as impressed with the bacon as I expected to be.  I’d pass on this one in favor of the pecan butter tart, but you should try it for yourself.

Woah Dough Muffin Reviews

The choices are Apple Streusel, Blueberry Streusel and Morning Glory. The flavors are lovely but texture is the difficult thing to get right in a gluten free muffin. My friend Louise summed it up perfectly “The muffins were so light and fluffy" she said.  "Gluten free has come a long way!”

Woah Dough Cookies

How many dry crumbly gluten free cookies have you had that made you wish you hadn’t bothered?  Woah Dough’s cookies are moist, tender and chewy.  Louise said, “the chocolate chip were lovely, but the double chocolate was a little too chocolaty for my liking”.  If you’re a chocolate lover, well, do with that what you will.

I love oatmeal cookies. The blend of certified gluten free oats with raisins and Woah Dough’s cookie dough is the perfect texture and not too sweet. 

Brownie explosion was intriguing, with chunks of gluten free brownie throughout the cookie.  For me I prefer melty chocolate chips but give it a try for yourself.

Bake-Your-Own Cookie Dough

Woah Dough sells a selection of frozen cookie dough that you can bake up yourself in ten minutes. The signature exclamation point graces the outside of the package and it forms the container that holds the dough.  The dot is the perfect size for one cookie. 

I made chocolate chip cookies for my test.  Prep is simple. Slice the dough into 11 equal sized balls – the dot forms the 12th cookie – and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.  The cookies were moist, chewy and delicious and the chocolate, warm out of the oven, melts in your mouth.  After devouring half the plate I begged hubby to take them away from me.  I don’t know where they went and that's probably for the best ;)

Miscellaneous Squares

Lemon squares, brownies and other sweet morsels made perfect party favors and my guests loved them.  The lemon squares were my favorite with a little burst of sweet lemony goodness in each bite.

My Overall Impressions

Marilyn is truly talented and has created outstanding products for those of us on a gluten free diet.  The texture of the pastry, the cookies and the muffins is excellent and I would challenge your glutenous friends to tell the difference. 

I realize this is a small business and you can’t be all things to all people, but I would like to see Woah Dough cater to other food intolerances.  Especially dairy as many of us with celiac also struggle with lactose or casein.

The only downside is the price, but Woah Dough is competitive with other quality gluten free bakeries.  Sadly everything is expensive these days and the cost of eating gluten free is even more so.

Would I Recommend Woah Dough Gluten Free Bakery Products?

Absolutely!

I prefer savory over sweet so I expect you'll find Woah Dough’s gluten free empanadas and chicken pot pie on my table.  And of course, my sugary weakness, the pecan butter tart.  As for the rest of the Woah Dough line up, I work hard to avoid sugar, but if you're picking up dinner, who can resist dessert?! Especially for a party or holiday dinner.

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