Georgetown Farmer's Market Boasts New Addition: Magnolia Bread Company

The Georgetown Farmer's Market opened for the season Wednesday in Rose Park. Favorite vendors from years' past were there selling fresh local produce, cut flowers, prepared foods and this year, fresh baked bread.

Magnolia Bread Company, based in Sudlersville, Maryland, makes bread from wheat grown on the family farm. Jimmy Reynolds said his wife's family has owned the land since the 1700s and had had a wheat crop since about 1750. He said the idea to start his own bread company came to him when he saw a combine harvesting their wheat fields and thought, "Why not put it in bread?"

Magnolia breads are made differently from traditional European breads. Reynolds said they cook their wheat by boiling it in water until it absorbs the liquid, rather than grinding the wheat. It's American-style bread said Reynolds that uses cooked white cornmeal, which is so readily available in the U.S.

He said he does not try to mimic the French with their crispy baguettes, with "100 percent humidity" even if he tried to make crispy bread, the loaves would lose the texture during transport, said Reynolds.

Magnolia is a small operation and Reynolds is intimately familiar with the finicky nature of making his product. "Bread is an ethereal thing," said Reynolds, remarking over its ability to put you in your place if the conditions are not "just so."

Each day Magnolia produces just over 200 loaves and sells those mostly at farmer's markets and to a few wholesale locations from Newark, Delaware to Washington, D.C.

Check out their offerings of American artisinal bread and have a chat with Jimmy about where it came from. He'll see you at the Georgetown Farmer's Market every Wednesday until October.