La Cordobesa co-owner Alfredo Guizar-Lopez makes authentic Mexican bread from scratch in the bakery of his family’s Jemison store.(Photo by Steven Calhoun)

By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

JEMISON- La Cordobesa in Jemison provides made-from-scratch Mexican bread to customers and stores throughout central Alabama.

The owners, Reina Caballero and Alfredo Guizar-Lopez, and their son Alfredo Guizar opened the store in 2000 and have grown the bakery so much that they are building an expansion to keep up with orders. They plan to do the work themselves.

“We lived in this building before,” said Guizar. “When they [the city] made this commercial, [my parents] decided to move the store here.”

The family used to have the store open in a shopping center nearby, but took advantage of the new zoning and moved the store.

La Cordobesa makes sweet bread, dinner rolls and other baked goods from scratch in the kitchen. The family store has become the source for many stores who sell their authentic bread products in the Birmingham area and in Chilton County.

“When we started, we delivered to Mexican stores in Pelham, Alabaster, Birmingham, Cullman,” Guizar said. “So they know our product. When we quit doing that because the gas prices went up, most people were looking for the bread, so they call us now. We have people coming from as far as Cullman.”

On Halloween, the store shipped a specialty bread called hojaldra to places like California, Texas, New York and California. Hojaldras are similar to donuts or beignets, but their festive, lumpy shape sets them apart and prompted vendors to order the unique treat by the case from the Jemison store.

According to Caballero, the family’s store was the first Mexican bakery in central Alabama, and is still the only one making the bread from scratch. Although the store has many types of bread, the family claims the pambazo bread is the store’s big hit.

The pambazo is made using a recipe the family brought from Veracruz, Mexico, where it is used as a bun for sandwiches and other culinary creations.

The bread the store makes is known for being true to the way it is made in Veracruz, and the vendors whom La Cordobesa supplies order from them for that reason, according to Guizar.

La Cordobesa sells the bread in the store, as well, so people from Chilton County can stop by and try it. The store is located at 118 Patton Street in Jemison, near the high school.