Our story · Maryland
Bury & Essen: to grow & to eat.
Wood oven baked sourdough breads & pastries, born from a search for food that nourishes—and a loaf of real sourdough worth driving an hour for.
Part one · The name
Where it all began
One of the questions people frequently ask is, “Bury & Essen? What does that even mean?” To understand the name, you have to go back about 15 years.
I was working toward my Master of Public Health degree in Community Nutrition, and going through a particularly challenging period of my life. I had gone from being a Division I athlete to someone who could barely move, participate in physical activity, or even think clearly. I was living with Crohn’s disease, and so many of the things that had defined my life had become incredibly limited. But even then, I was feeling inspired.
A seed catalog in February
It was winter—February, to be exact—when a seed catalog arrived. Looking through it, I felt a tremendous sense of inspiration. There was so much I couldn’t do physically, but I started thinking about what I could do.
My now-husband and I were in a long-distance relationship, talking over Skype. I told him I wanted to plant seeds, grow food, and become more connected to what I was eating, to the soil, and to the ground beneath my feet. And I wanted to write about it.
Growing, changing, finding my way forward
I was searching for a way forward, and I believed connection was part of it. Connection to the food I ate. To the soil it grew in. To the environment around me. And, in many ways, to myself.
Growing food and transforming it into something to eat felt synonymous with my own journey. I was growing and changing, too.
To grow & to eat
During one of those conversations, I asked him to help me name the blog—something about growing food and transforming it, but also about my own evolution. That’s where Bury & Essen began. To grow & to eat.
The blog was never particularly consistent, but the name stayed with me. It became a personal moniker, and a philosophy: understanding where food comes from and being deeply connected to it.
Part two · The bread
But what does this have to do with bread?
Fair question. During that same period, I was advised to follow a gluten-free diet. But many of the gluten-free breads I found were just as heavily processed—and personally, I felt worse eating them. So I started wondering whether there might be another way.
A loaf from Adamstown, Pennsylvania
My dad has been in the antique world for decades. One day in Adamstown, he came across a woman selling homemade sourdough and brought a loaf home. This was the real thing: traditional sourdough, three ingredients, naturally fermented. The flavor, the texture, the simplicity—it was incredible. And I felt great after eating it. I remember thinking, there’s something to this.
Adamstown was over an hour from my university, and I drove there more than once just for another loaf. I couldn’t find anyone nearby making traditional, naturally fermented sourdough.
A Christmas gift that changed everything
Eventually, my husband gave me a sourdough starter kit for Christmas. I didn’t start baking because I dreamed of a bakery. I started because I wanted to make something for myself—simple, thoughtfully chosen ingredients, traditionally prepared, and delicious. So I kept baking.
More than a decade later
It’s been more than a decade of learning, experimenting, and refining. Today, I get to make the kind of bread I once drove over an hour to find: bread made with intention, that respects its ingredients and the time it takes to transform them. And I’m thrilled to make it for you.
“Food designed to love you as much as you'll love it.”
A little flour. A little fire. A lot of care.
Good bread.
Nothing rushed.
Our bread begins with organic ingredients, natural sourdough fermentation, and the hearth of a wood-fired oven. We source the highest-quality organic ingredients we can find, locally and regionally.
We’re a Maryland Cottage Food Bakery. Each loaf and pastry is made to order in small batches—with care from the first mix to the final bake.