09/12/2026
“I never wanted to do pastry, and I never liked baking,” Martha Gilreath, founder of Nolita New Orleans, recalls.
She wanted to improvise. Which, she’ll be the first to laugh about, is basically forbidden in pastry. But the thing Martha needed most to rebuild her life—structure, repetition, rules—is exactly what pastry demands. “It’s a lot of the disciplines that being sober requires of me,” she says, “the discipline and the willingness and the learning.”
Now, the pastry case at Nolita Bakery is filled daily with irresistible treats that are unapologetically Louisiana. A boudin Danish—pork and rice and Cajun spice tucked into laminated dough—or seasonal king cakes are displayed alongside crawfish bread and a pecan pie-stuffed croissant.
Read the full story, and get the recipe for her Pecan Bourbon Supper Club Cake at the link below.
https://bakefromscratch.com/nolita-bakery/
