- Producer Seraphim Smith loves artisan bread and is really good at sniffing out the next amazing loaf.

Let's find out why multi-generational Greek restaurant and bake shop Famous Bakery Company, in New Bern, is the talk of the town.

[light dramatic music] - [Seraphim] Bread is my thing.

I love baking it, I love learning about it, and I especially love visiting wonderful bakeries like this one: Famous Restaurant and Baking Company.

I'm learning about their origin story and how they make their bread.

- I took a bread class at King Arthur in Vermont.

My intention was just to go take a class to learn a little bit more about pizza dough.

And then I was very blessed where I ran into Jeffrey Hammelman, who's master baker, one of the few master bakers in the country, and came back and was like, "Oh, we're gonna build a bakery."

And it was supposed to be this tiny little artisan bread bakery.

- [Seraphim] But this is no little bakery.

Along with pastries, they make around 160 loaves daily.

- We're an overnight production.

The bakery is 24 hours a day.

Our bread bakers come in the evening and then the regular pastry chefs are here during the day and the cake decorators.

And we have been so blessed with pastry chefs.

And they've all been with us, our bread bakers, our croissant makers, they've all been with us from the start.

- [Seraphim] While we're on a roll, let's check out how a baguette is formed.

A true baguette has tapered ends and it rests in a flowered fabric called a couche.

The couche gently supports its form while it rises.

[bouncy music] A razor is used to score the bread, which allows it to vent steam and CO2 and rise in a controlled way when baking.

And it makes a pretty loaf.

A single dough can be made into many shapes.

Any way you slice it, Famous makes beautiful bread.

How long does it take to make sourdough?

- It takes 48 hours to make and then it sits in the fridge and the flavors settle in.

It makes it what it is: sourdough.

[cheerful music] - [Seraphim] And this bread is used in the restaurant.

- My husband started the restaurant in 1983.

He was only 17 at the time.

He ended up bringing his parents down here and then building the store.

And we've done everything really, really slowly.

I mean, it takes a long time to make a loaf of bread.

Can't compromise the bread or, you know, the starters, or just all of it.

[cheerful music] - I've been coming here for over 30 years.

Never had anything here that wasn't delicious.

- I got the pepper steak sub.

- There you go, sir.

- Awesome.

Thank you.

- Sure, thank you.

- I can already feel that this bread has a lovely crunch to it.

You make it next door?

- It's nice and crispy.

Yes We started a steak sub that's called pepper steak that's basically a signature sandwich.

And to this day, we sell a ton of it, close to 500 pounds a week.

- [Georgia] We always try to improve things.

So if we get a better quality item, you know, like a better tomato paste or a better tomato sauce, or something, we'll definitely go that route.

Anything we can do to improve it.

- And people leave New Bern a lot and then they come home, you know, or visiting or anything else, they come and they're like, you know, "Famous is still Famous."

- Yeah.

- And that's- - Which is a great compliment, yeah, to hear that.

[lively music] We have a lot of customers that drive from an hour away to get a loaf bread.

You definitely have give them the best products that you can.

We do a lot of dessert tables.

So we'll do a lot of our regular sized desserts and just mini versions, like eclairs, cannolis, mini cream puffs, lemon bars, key lime bars, and it gives people, like, a variety.

Our cookies actually have become one of our biggest sellers in the bakery.

We make thousands for the holidays.

It's a big, huge, huge seller.

And I would say our number one selling pie is our sweet potato pie, and we use North Carolina sweet potatoes.

And there's nothing better than roasting a North Carolina sweet potato and putting it in a pie shell.

[lively music] - I love just about everything, but the cheesecake's definitely my favorite.

- Giving desserts is actually, it's so rewarding, like, when you gift it, 'cause people are just always happy to eat it, you know?

It's something that they'll just smile.

[lively music] - Famous Baking Company is at 2208 Neuse Boulevard in New Bern, and they're open daily.

Their restaurant is right next door.

For more information, give them a call at 252-635-0079 or go online to famousrestaurant.com.