Boulted Bread in Raleigh, NC

Martha Smith, Head of Pastry & Production

Origins

In 2014,  Sam Kirkpatrick, Joshua Bellamy and Fulton Forde, three Raleigh natives, opened Boulted  Bread in the city that helped raise them. They combined their skills and knowledge from time spent in the food industry to create a space that embodies what the namesake suggests: bolting flour means to sift out a portion of the germ and wheat, leaving behind a more refined flour. The idea was to create a bakery that didn’t try to hide anything,  but aimed to showcase the ingredients and flavors at the heart of its products. What started out as a three-person team has turned into a team of 24 individuals who care an awful lot about the product we make and how we make it. In 2023,  we moved from our original location on South Street, to Dupont Circle, a few blocks away. I’ve been with Boulted for six and half years now and I joined the ownership team this year. I lead day-to-day production and operations for the back of house with pastry being my primary focus.

Company Mission

Our goals are in a constant state of evolution. However, at the end of the day we strive to serve our Raleigh community with the most flavorful products possible by showcasing high-quality ingredients through excellent technique. We buy local produce, eggs, and dairy, sourcing organic and regional grain to mill in-house, with natural and long fermentations and a gentle mix on our doughs. We take three days to make a single croissant. We showcase the produce that comes from North Carolina by adding just what’s needed to boost their individual flavors. We create community in our space and serve only what we’d make for our family and friends.

Signature Products

Our signature pastry products are our croissants, currant and einkorn scones, chocolate chip cookies, oat cookies and our shortbreads. Hands down our top seller is our Morning Bun, which is our elevated version of a cinnamon roll. Sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest get rolled up into our croissant dough, then portioned out and baked in muffin tins. The sugars and butter caramelize and pool into the bottom of the tin while they bake. We flip the buns out after baking, covering them in the rich, decadent caramel and then toss in sugar to finish.

Our Ham and Gruyere  Croissant is also really popular.  We source our ham from Benton’s Country Ham in Tennessee. It’s a family run business that’s putting  out some of the smokiest and most flavorful ham around.

My personal favorites are our plain croissant and our Abruzzi rye shortbread. We use a levain starter along with a poolish in our croissant dough, and I believe it’s the whole- grain flour that elevates the depth of flavor in the final product. The shortbread is made from 100% Wren’s Abruzzi rye flour that’s milled in house.  We add in cocoa nibs and butter and the result is a cookie that melts in your mouth with a combination of nuttiness from the rye and a crunch  from the nib. It’s perfect.

Production Tip

I’m not sure this is exactly a tip but more of a personal goal and that is to not get complacent with our products. Just because we’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean there aren’t techniques, ingredients, processes that could make a better product. It’s not an easy thing to do and it absolutely takes time. But I want our products to stay at a certain level and if I’m not continually re-evaluating where they are, I might miss an opportunity to make them even better.

Equipment ‘Must-Haves’

Without a doubt it is the sheeter. We produce so much laminated dough, I can’t imagine having to make the quantity we do by hand rolling. We use the sheeter not just for croissant dough, but also pie crusts,  scones and shortbreads. It makes our days easier and our products more uniform and consistent.

A small one is a bench scraper. From dividing dough to scraping a bowl or table, it’s incredibly useful.

Future Plans

We moved a little over a year ago and it still feels very new. Our new space is quite a bit larger than our old space and it feels nice to have more breathing room. We’ve added more team members,  a coffee program and a full café. We’ve expanded our wholesale operation and more. We’re always looking to further our mission of getting more fresh milled flour into our products and out into the world. I’m surrounded by an incredible team of people who are experimenting and testing new products across pastry, bread and coffee. It’s inspiring to work in such a collaborative environment.

Photos by Anna Routh Barzin

For more info, visit https://www.instagram.com/boultedbread

(This article appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)