HISTORY
Max and Coralia Harn started Stella's Bakery in 1988. Married in the
1960s, Max and Coralia met in Panama. Max was a young Navy-man and
Coralia was born and raised there. Once married, they moved to
Wisconsin, Max's home state. They settled in and had a family. They had made their livelihood owning and
operating furniture stores, a long-time Harn tradition. After having
done this for over 30 years, Max decided to leave it all, much to the
displeasure of the rest of his family, and pursue his dream truck farming
on their land outside Berlin, WI.
Max and Coralia worked hard. Their eldest son, Max Jr., had his own family in Madison, WI, and kept busy with his professional running career. Their daughter Cora was in college at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where she
eventually got her law degree. Their youngest children, Julie and Jennie, were still at
home and worked alongside their parents in their free time.
They made their money, the little of it that came in, by selling
produce to grocery stores. Cora introduced the idea of selling at the
Madison Farmers' Market, which they shortly thereafter joined. Driving
from Berlin to Madison twice a week to participate in the market was no
easy task; they'd leave before dawn and arrive back home late in the day
to sell their wares to Madisonians. Max has fond memories of it,
describing it as “backbreaking work but the best time of my life.”
Coralia, Julie, and Jennie hated it.
Coralia saw that bakery items sold really well at the market and her
ideas started rolling. “I had no idea where to start,” she said. She
wasn’t an avid baker by an stretch of the imagination, but there were two good family recipes: one for Jamaican fruit cake and another for Panamanian empanadas. Stella, her
grandmother, born and raised in Jamaica, had passed them on. Starting
with the cake, empanadas, and a few other small items, Coralia had success! One
thing led to another and they ended up working with their son, Max, to
open a bakery in Madison. They commuted to Madison for years until
finally moving to be closer to the business. The whole family worked
side by side in the store, making breads and pastries to sell at their
retail storefront and at the market. Eventually, Max Jr. and Cora left the business to focus on other things. Even Coralia left when she moved on to focus on a new business venture, Consolidated Foods,
providing catering at the Madison Coliseum. With Julie and Jennie grown up and
out of the house, it was left to Max to run the business with a handful
of employees.
As any small business owner can attest to, personnel issues became
overwhelming and Max tired of the business. He closed up the retail
shop and opened up a much larger kitchen that would be dedicated solely
to wholesale business and the farmers' markets, his favorite part of the
business.
20 years from its start, the bakery is now run jointly by Max and
Coralia, who closed up her catering business, and Julie and her
husband, Brian, who moved back from NYC to help run the business. This is a new collaboration. Max and Coralia bring
all their business experience and expertise. Julie brings her
experience in operations at Google, where she has worked for
over five years. Brian brings his world-class
bakery experience. He graduated from the French Culinary Institute in
New York City and apprenticed under Sarabeth Levine, a premier
restaurant and bakery owner in New York and a one-time recipient of the
James Beard award, a prestigious and coveted honor in the culinary
world.
ABOUT OUR BREAD
We use time-honored traditional methods of baking bread. Each of our breads uses natural leavening, requiring our doughs ample time to ferment. These methods allow our breads to develop wonderful textures, flavors, and aromas. We are excited to offer you breads that we are truly proud of. We have a passion for our craft, we love our bread, and we hope you do too!
We are not a big commercial bakery. We limit the size of our batches to maintain the highest quality and we never rush the process. We bake each bread differently, depending on the kind of texture and crust we want. For some of the breads, we inject steam into the ovens resulting in a great, thick, crunchy crust and just the right amount of oven spring. We bake with no steam for softer, chewier breads. We bake our breads fresh, use no artificial preservatives, and use the finest ingredients available, including unbleached unbromated flours, pure sea salt, and whole grains, nuts, and seeds. You will be able to taste the difference!
We'd love to hear from you! Email us at brian@stellasofmadison.com or call us at (608) 663-2690.