BEHIND THE BITE
LEFT: A Pane Siciliano loaf sits waiting to get snapped up at the Athens Farmers Market.
LA DOLCE VITA
Molina Family Bakery brings slice of Italy to Athens County STORY BY CARLY MCFADDEN // PHOTOS BY CONNOR KUREK
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hen Gary Molina was a child, he had no idea that the traditional baked goods he was eating every day would make him a living decades later. Molina Family Bakery was founded in 2011. For the first few years, Gary Molina worked out of his home and sold his Italian breads and sweets at the Athens Farmers Market on East State Street. In 2015, Molina got the opportunity to use the commercial kitchen at Integration Acres in Albany. For the last four years, Molina has been operating out of that kitchen. Today, his baked goods are still sold at the Athens Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, as well as Athens favorite Donkey Coffee. His products include various breads and sweets such as cookies and cinnamon rolls. Baking runs in Molina’s blood. Growing up, Molina was the youngest of five siblings in an Italian-American family. His mother’s side was from near Bari, a coastal city in the southeastern region of Italy, while his father’s side hailed from Piedmont, a region in the northeastern area of Italy at the foot of the Alps. His father was a baker in the U.S. Army during WWII. He baked bread using large-scale equipment for his fellow comrades as they traveled through England, France, Belgium and Germany during the 1940s.
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Molina started his bakery using authentic Italian recipes that his grandmother, who was born in Italy, mother and aunts passed down to his siblings and cousins. He was inspired by the idea of honoring his family members who paved the way for him. “The idea of baking and preparing foods using family recipes gave me a way to not only earn a living, but also to maintain the connection to family,” Molina says. Molina is taking another step to honor his Italian heritage by applying for dual citizenship in Italy. His pride is passed down to his children, who also plan on becoming dual citizens of Italy and the U.S. Molina has always been proud of his heritage, but it has only strengthened since starting the bakery using his family recipes nine years ago. His bakery gives him a chance to share his culture with Athens residents. “I’m always looking at Italian recipes and I always like to have something [Italian] on the table because of that heritage and our future,” Molina says. “It’s what makes what I’m doing fulfilling beyond just making a living.” Out of all of Molina’s breads, his favorite to bake is the Pane Siciliano. The authentic southern Italian bread is made with olive oil, sesame seeds and durum semolina flour. Durum semolina flour is a yellow flour with a coarse texture and nutty, sweet flavor that is also used to make pasta. After
