When it opened downtown last July, Flour and Salt immediately became a Hamilton favorite. The bakery is known for its New York style bagels, chocolate babka roses and local products. While the line to buy breakfast regularly stretches from the register to the shop’s entryway, bagel-goers are happy to wait.

Britty Buonocore is the founder, owner and head baker at Flour and Salt. Before her professional baking ventures, though, she was a Colgate student herself. As an English concentrator, Britty helped establish the Creative Writing Initiative at Hamilton Central School. She and a group of Colgate students would regularly teach creative writing skills at an after-school program for local children. Britty was also a member of the Colgate Resolutions, and was a part of the Master of Arts and Teaching Graduate Program. She graduated from the program in 2013.

After graduation, Britty and now-fiancé Brendan (a fellow Colgate alumnus) moved to the Hudson Valley, but it was not long before that they were backin Hamilton.

“While we were living in the Hudson Valley, we just couldn’t establish ourselves,” Britty said. “We loved this great community of young, working people. We’re very big on people being our place.”

While Brendan worked on a local organic farm, Britty began to bake out of the farm’s small cottage kitchen. Soon enough, she was regularly selling bagels at the Hamilton Farmer’s Market. The hand-rolled, homemade bagels were a niche product that sold out every weekend.

When Colgate welcomed Chartwells Dining Services as its new food provider in 2015, Britty received a new opportunity: supplying baked goods to the library café. The gig was Britty’s first “big account,” and out of a larger commercial kitchen, she worked solo to churn out bagels, cookies and the like to hungry Colgate students.    

Flour and Salt Bakery officially opened on July 27, 2016, after a successful Kickstarter campaign helped Britty garner the support she needed to buy a revolving oven. Since then, Britty has grown her business exponentially: Flour and Salt has gone from one baker to a staff of 11. For Britty, employing others has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the bakery.

“Employing people and knowing that their employment is their livelihood is rewarding, but also totally terrifying,” Britty said.

Fortunately, the staff is a close-knit group.

“It’s a lot of fun to come to work. We hire people with everyone else in mind, and so it’s a great group dynamic,” Britty said.

Over the past few months, Britty has worked to take Flour and Salt past the point of being a restaurant space. Earlier in April, Flour and Salt presented “Writers Out Loud,” during which fifteen students shared fiction, nonfiction and poetry pieces. Britty hopes to continue a tradition of utilizing the bakery for a community event once per month.

Britty’s goals do not stop at events. In the near future, she is planning to bring an espresso machine to Flour and Salt. Britty would also like to extend the shop’s hours, and to eventually wholesale its products.

As for Britty’s favorite bakery item?

“The vegan chocolate chip cookie,” the baker said. “It’s so simple, but one of our top selling products. It really does take the cake…or the cookie.”