Bakery

Joseph George Otterbein, the retired baker who created and marketed a popular thin sugar cookie, died Saturday of complications from congestive heart failure at his Lake Montebello home. He was 88. Mr. Otterbein was born above the family bakery at Fort Avenue and Jackson Street in South Baltimore. He attended the Holy Cross School and was a 1941 Loyola High School graduate. During World War II, he served in the Army and was trained as a paratrooper. He was assigned to England and France.

James Hamlin likes to say, "It's not about the rolls," insisting that the next big thing on Baltimore's historic Pennsylvania Avenue - his Avenue Bakery - is about commitment to your community and respect for its heritage. It's about being a role model to others who dream of owning a small business. And that's all grand and admirable. But most people are just going to nod when Mr. Hamlin says, "It's not about the rolls," because they'll be too busy eating them to argue. Same for Mattie's Muffins, named after Mr. Hamlin's mother and made from sweet potato, apples, walnuts and raisins.

Wade P. Thomas Jr., a retired Annapolis lawyer who earlier had owned a bakery chain, died July 2 of kidney failure at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The longtime Crofton resident was 83. He was born in Baltimore and raised on Wardman Road in Stoneleigh. He was a 1946 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1950 from the University of Virginia. Mr. Thomas was a salesman for National Cash Register Corp. and owned a chain of six Cakery Bakeries, with five stores in Maryland and one in North Carolina.

Voting is live for Ultimate Baltimore Blowout! The following categories — spa, hair salon, bakery, gym and car wash — are for the best services. Voting ends 5 p.m. May 25. The poll is set up for one vote per I.P. address per day. Any questions/comments/requests for rules should be sent to contests@bthesite.com .          

Madelene E. "Sugar" Marcus, a retired bakery manager and former longtime Linthicum resident, died April 14 of colon cancer at Victory Special Care Center in El Cajon, Calif. She was 85. Madelene Elizabeth Brown was born in Baltimore and raised in Curtis Bay. She attended city public schools. She was married in 1943 to John Marcus, a Shell Oil Co. truck driver, who died in 1993. "She was called 'Sugar' from the time she was very young because her sisters said she was so sweet," said her daughter, Jacqueline Whitney of West Palm Beach, Fla. From 1960 to 1970, Mrs. Marcus was a manager for the old Silber's Bakery.

I must be one of the few who remember a lovely little Baltimore restaurant called Sony's. It was owned and run by a hard-working little woman from the Philippines named Sony. Sony Electronics made her change the name, and her little eatery never quite recovered. The Just Desserts bakery next to the Hollins Market was taken to court by a bakery of the same name in California. Starbucks tried to sue a monastery for selling Christmas Blend Coffee. (Starbucks lost.) Can anyone blame Denise Whiting for trademarking the name of a restaurant and festival that she started?

Kenny Johnston grew up in Pasadena, but the 25-year-old musician has since returned to his family's old neighborhood of Hamilton. Now he frequently rides his Schwinn road bike in the same Northeast Baltimore neighborhood where his grandmother went to school, becoming interested in many of the old delicatessens and bakeries. On Saturday, he led an "old-fashioned Italian and German delis" bike tour, posting fliers around town beforehand and even getting some mentions in local bicycling blogs.

My mostly love/sometimes-hate relationship with bread baking began at age 14 with a loaf of the best-tasting cheese bread I ever made, though maddeningly, I could never duplicate the results. Maybe it was beginner's luck, or maybe I was just thrilled to get bread and not a giant cheddar pancake. Nonetheless, I got hooked on bread baking and have kept at it. It brings a sense of great accomplishment and an adrenaline rush to unearth a quintessential and/or never-fail recipe. Sometimes I turn to bread baking for what Alison Furbish, web media coordinator for King Arthur Flour, calls a "comforting activity with an emotional component.