Award-winning Dallas bakery Kuluntu Bakery is hosting a new monthly event that'll combine sweet pastries and community gathering.

Called the "Community Bake," it'll take place on the first Saturday of every month at their Oak Cliff headquarters, beginning on March 4.

From 10 am to 12 pm, they'll have pastries, coffee, creative activities for kids and adults, self-serve cold brew and water, and most importantly an opportunity to gather with neighbors and the community.

The new event represents a shift for the bakery and fulfills its goals to not only bake great bread but also bring people together, says founder Stephanie Leichtle-Chalklen.

Founded in 2018, Kuluntu is a cottage food business that sells breads and pastries, to be picked up once a week. Their selection is limited and changes every week, but always includes sourdough breads, pastries, cakes, and seasonal goods.

Despite not having a brick-and-mortar location, Kuluntu has racked up numerous awards including an impressive ranking on a Food & Wine list of the Best Breads in Every State, a 2023 nomination for a James Beard Award, and a CultureMap Tastemaker Awards nomination for Best Pastry Chef.

Their model has been to send out an email listing their offerings every week, and customers pick up their orders on Thursdays.

Now, just for the first week of the month, the pickup takes place on Saturday, and customers are encouraged to stick around and hang out. If they want to eat their pastries on-site, there'll be picnic benches, with water and free coffee, "BYOmug."

"The idea is to have a more intentional space for the community to gather," Leichtle-Chalklen says. "I'm also trying to get out of the kitchen and allocate my time a little differently. It'll just be one week out of the month. If people want to eat pastries there, they can, and coffee will be on the house."

"The rest of the month, we'll still have Thursday pickup, but we won't have pastry every week like we’ve been doing, it'll be more focused on bread, and we'll make Saturdays a big pastry day," she says.

The deadline for pre-orders is Monday, so that ship has sailed for the March 4 event. However, they will also have a few baked items for sale, first-come first-serve, for those who did not place an order online. (And for future offerings, you can place your order here.)

"We'll also be frying up some little doughnuts, a South African specialty called Cape Malay koesisters, those will be on the house," she says. "We want to encourage people to come. This is about gathering together."