A farmers market staple has opened a brick-and-mortar location: Just Simply The Bakery.
If you’ve been to the Morgantown Farmers Market in the past three years, you’ve likely seen an eager crowd gathered around Tracy Cotton’s booth, hoping to snag one of her famous zebra cakes or artisan sourdough loaves. What many marketgoers don’t know is that all of Cotton’s treats are gluten-free—except the sourdough, which is made in a separate kitchen.
That’s because her recipes are leagues above the gluten-free goods you can find at a grocery store. She follows a motto: “If you can tell it’s gluten-free, we haven’t done our job.”
Stop by Cotton’s new brick-and-mortar bakery in the Seneca Center and see for yourself. But before you grab your wallet and keys, learn how Just Simply The Bakery got its start—and what Cotton has planned for the future.
How long have you been baking?
Tracy Cotton: When I met my husband, I could burn water. Over the years, with time and patience, I’ve really turned into quite a baker. I was mostly self-taught, but my husband’s mother ran the lunch program for the public schools in her state, so he’s a wonderful cook. He’d give me a couple lessons that I would start perfecting—that’s how I got my start.
Then, it turned into people asking me, “Can we come sit at your kitchen counter and have coffee and watch you bake?” It was about the atmosphere. I was feeding souls along with feeding bellies.
How did Just Simply come about?
TC: About two and a half years ago, I applied to become a vendor at the farmers market. I had sourdough and baked items. My daughter had just been laid off from her job as an underground coal miner, and I told her I couldn’t do the market alone. She joined me, and she asked if she could make gluten-free chocolate chip cookies because her best friend had celiac disease.
By the time we were 18 months in, we were 95% gluten-free with a few sourdough items. This past summer, we went 99% gluten-free.
Your table at the farmers market is always mobbed! Are you finding that even people without celiac disease or gluten sensitivity are regular buyers?
TC: We don’t advertise the fact that we’re celiac-safe, because a lot of people have preconceived notions about what gluten-free food tastes like, and we want them to taste it first before we reveal our little secret. Most people don’t care—as long as the food tastes good, that’s all that matters.
What are your most popular items?
TC: Our top sellers have been oatmeal cream pies and zebra cakes, like Little Debbie used to make—they taste like childhood. We also have something called a Buckeye Bar, which is a tiered dessert that we can’t keep in stock. Something we’ve gone from making 50 a week to 200 a week is our pepperoni rolls.
What’s in the future for Just Simply?
TC: We’re hoping to get into a full line of gift basket services and a retail space where you can obtain gluten-free items that you can’t just walk into Walmart and purchase.
We also have an event space that can seat 50 people. We have done bridal showers, baby showers, birthday parties. We hope to do some pop-ups and winter mini-markets.
Stop by the Seneca Center and explore Cotton’s new space. You can also still find her booth at the Morgantown Farmers Market—but get there early before everything flies off the shelves.
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