Leinala's Bakery

Bakery: Leinala's Bakery
Address: 272 Caswell Dr, Sudbury ON
Website: n/a 
Style: Finnish
Price: $$ 

The presence (or lack thereof) of Finnish baked goods in the GTA has been a more common topic of interest on this site. Unfortunately, the discussion has always ended with the need to go to Newmarket (Milbree-Viking); now, if you don't want to make the drive to Newmarket, you can always go to... Sudbury. ;D Okay, okay, that's a nasty joke, especially for the Finnish baked good-deprived out there -- myself included.

The brothers did, however, end up for a day in Sudbury. Knowing that this is one of the hubs for Finnish-Canadians, I sensed that there was a bakery here. My preliminary research for Sudbury found nothing, but the second time around, I found it: Leinala's is the Finnish bakery in town (and well, in a very large area). They're also a Scandinavian deli, but as the brother puts it, it's all Finnish stuff. ;D Nevertheless, what else is Finnish? Their baked goods! Authentic Finnish baked goods from breads, what he calls 'doughy cakes', to pulla (sold out/not baked that day), karjalanpiirakoita, and what seemed to be their signature item: "jelly pigs" (mustikkapiirakat suomeksi ^^) in addition to the more universal treats such as danishes, pies, etc.

Seeing as the jelly pigs had to be eaten on site -- or so they claim -- I'll start with that. Personally, I'm not seeing the pigs, but these are pretty much shaped jelly doughnuts, complete with strawberry jelly inside and coated in sugar. The brothers thought them good, "typical good jelly doughnut" were the words. One complained it was a little too chewy, though I'm not sure what that means...

Fortunately, you have me for the rest: though they're not sweet, the karjalanpiirakat (with rice, potato or meat stuffing) had to be a must-try for me. Whatever my mom attempts, she just can't them sufficiently Finnish enough. These were alright. Shells were excellent, but the filling -- I had rice -- was too skimpy and there was nothing along the edges but the rye shell and that made everything except the centre quite dry.

The cinnamon bun was another item that had to be immediately freezed and brought back for me. I had to have it and it had to be fresh. ;) I'm not sure if it was simply because I was so Finnish baking-starved, but the buns were delicious: rolled with rock sugar on top and cardamom folded into the dough -- mmm, how I love Finnish cinnamon buns! *-* I wouldn't go so far as to say they're better than my other Finnish-Canadian stop; they all have merits and they all want me to just come in and buy everything! Finnish bakeries.... Just looking at the photos makes me smell cardamom!

Rating: ***1/2

Pâtisserie Saint-Louis de France

Bakery: La Pâtisserie Saint-Louis de France
Address: 3575 Rue Berri, Montreal QC 
Website: n/a 
Style: French 
Price: $$-$$$

On my annual trip to Montreal, I was leaving the Sherbrooke metro station (on the east side of Berri, in front of the bus stops for buses going east and north; do note that you don't have to enter the actual metro station) when I was hit with an amazing sight: a patisserie, right when I was fearing I'd have to put off my Cake Touring for one day, as it was already after five. So, running in with luggage and all, I made a bee line to the pastry counter. It being quite late, bakery-wise, I wasn't surprised to find that they seemed to be in the process of closing up and, accordingly, the selection wasn't the best, especially in terms of the viennoiseries, which I'm always a sucker for. Of course, they also have quite a nice selection (these were still plentiful) of fruit tarts, macarons, elaborate cakes and pastries -- you know, the usual French fare. That and your typical sandwich and bread counters. Prices, at $5+ for any of the pastries, are also your usual French ones. XD

In the mood for some less dessert-y and what could pass for a breakfast the following day, I took the last remaining apple turnover (chausson aux pommes)... actually, with the exception of one other pain au chocolat, the last remaining baked good of the day. I paid $3 on the dot, so I'm not sure if there was an end-of-day special or I didn't pay tax? Either way, I wasn't complaining that much; it wasn't cheap, but what you might expect from a French-style patisserie.

The goods: I've had a few of these throughout the city. It's one of my favourites and this didn't disappoint. I cheated a little bit and warmed it up in the oven so the apple sauce heated up and the dough got deliciously flaky, but man, was that ever a good idea! All those buttery aromas came out and the hot apple sauce in the middle was delicious. The distribution of the dough was a little off, with there not being enough dough in the centre for the generous dollop of apple inside and it being too doughy along the very thick edges. I don't want to say there was too much apple, but it got unmanageable and a plate was definitely required, since once in the middle, the sauce just started oozing out in every direction. Very messy, yes, but tasty. It doesn't beat some of my fave bakeries in Montreal, but it was still yummy.

Rating: ***

European Deli and Bakery [RIP]

Bakery: European Deli and Bakery
Address: 8409 Elbow Dr SW, Calgary AB 
Website: http://eurodeliandbakery.ca/
Style: German
Price: $$ 

Well, I was fortunate enough to be able to try this myself -- the brother stuffed a whole poppy seed roll into his suitcase and that means I can claim this review as my own. Not to mention the fact that I do love my German baked goods. Yay! :)

Anyways, the brother did help out a little bit in mentioning that European Deli is a German deli (complete with your usual cold cuts, sausages, etc) with a fairly varied selection of baked goods and cakes as well, comprised of all your German regulars: poppy seed rolls, classic cakes, Bienenstich, etc.

In accordance with part four of my Cake Tour regulations ("Poppy seed appreciated"), he did indeed choose a great item to sample, a large poppy seed roll ($7.60/each). Had I not known that it was German, I have to say I would have thought it more Eastern European; especially in terms of the denser dough and poppy seed mass, I could have easily taken it for a Polish poppy seed roll, though it was definitely bigger and wider. That being said, the dough was certainly softer and fluffier than I've come to expect from the usually -- though not always -- lacklustre makowiec; I certainly have no complaints. The poppy seed mass was especially quite tasty; nice and generous on those poppy seeds as well!  The brother commented that it had a good amount of poppy seeds and raisins; me, I could have done with less raisins, but that's purely because I don't like raisins. ;) Sadly, I didn't get to try a lot of stuff from this tour *pouts*, including some good and not so good items, but this was certainly leaning more towards the former. A yummy addition to the growing poppy seed tag. ^.^

Rating: ***

Little Tub Bakery

Bakery: Little Tub Bakery
Address: 4 Warner Bay Rd, Tobermory ON 
Website: n/a 
Style: Canadian 
Price: $$ 

Towards the end of August, the two brothers embarked on a somewhat short trip to Sudbury and Ottawa for a football game in the latter city. Having never been to Sudbury (or the surrounding area), you can imagine what they were asked to do: bring back baked goods! And, for once, they delivered and I was treated to a lovely array of treats from a few (I wish it had been more...) bakeries along the way. :) However, the fact that they brought back Finnish baking (future post) means I can overlook the fact that I gave them something like twelve bakeries and they came back with four. :/

Nevertheless, on their way to Manitoulin Island (via the ferry), they passed the town of Tobermory, home to the Little Tub Bakery. This place specializes in what they described it as classic country baking: cinnamon buns, butter tarts and cakes (of the standard dough-and-icing kind). And, what's more, it's really good. Actually, coming back from their trip, they got me intrigued by saying that Little Tub was one of -- if not the -- bakery highlight of their trip. In the words of one brother: this is how Canadian baking should be.

And I think I'll have to agree. They brought back two items: the first was an apple fritter (prices weren't noted). This was very good; an apple fritter exactly as it should be. The dough was soft and had great texture. Nice amount of apples and good icing. Apple fritters are, in fact, wonderful things. ;D One of my favourite "country classics", so I'm glad they -- for once -- knew what to take.

The second item was the cinnamon bun. Again, it was soft and moist; in some ways, it was very similar to the apple fritter (it resembling more a doughnut than your usual cream cheese-icing buns) with a great, delicately spiced dough and good glaze. Mmm.. both were excellent and everyone agreed.

So, while sending me their photos, the brother also included this rhubarb tart. It wasn't brought back like the other items, so yours truly had no taste, but the others raved about this as well, saying both homemade shell was good and flaky and the filling was especially tasty.

Overall, this was a fantastic discovery -- a tasty discovery too. :P Highly recommended.

Rating: ***1/2

JK Bakery [International Correspondent]

Bakery: JK Bakery
Address: 1514 Railway Ave, Canmore AB (+ two locations in Canmore and Banff)
Website: http://jkbakery.ca/ 
Style: European, North American
Price: $ 

JK Bakery, in Canmore (they have two locations and, according to their website, one more in Banff), has a little bit of everything, with cookies, treats, meat pies, and bread; they're also pretty much the only bakery in town, or at least this was my impression (Edit: Why, hello there, me again! ^^;; This was indeed one of the very few bakeries in Canmore, at least following my research; there seems to be one more, some sort of convenience store??, in the neighbourhood and perhaps there was some sort of custom cake place too [at this point I can't remember what's what and Google most certainly doesn't include all businesses, so I could be wrong] -- all I know is that the brother was ordered to go here. He was also ordered to go to the single bakery in Banff,  but he failed there.. -_-)

 I would say they seem to be a mix of Canadian baked goods with some of the more classic European treats like napoleons and danishes. I especially noticed that they had quite a bit of German stuff too, like strudels, etc. I also thought that prices were on the cheaper side, especially comparing it to other bakeries I visited during my trip.

I took the Linzer Torte; it was just of the right consistency and texture and had good proportions in terms of the layers of dough and jam. Overall, it was good; I liked it and would return.

Rating: ***

Blueberry Knoll Berry Farm

Bakery: Blueberry Knoll Berry Farm
Address: 1091 Hutchinson Rd, Lowbanks ON
Website: http://www.blueberryknoll.com/
Style: Canadian, North American 
Price: $$ 

Earlier this summer (yes, I'm still in catching-up mode in terms of bakeries from around here as well as further afield in Ontario, some in Montreal and, of course, the rest from the Great Canadian Cake Tout -- busy, busy! .___.), my youngest brother returned with some blueberries and baked goods from this farm. I don't know what he was doing in the area and I don't particularly care. :D All I know is that I got some baked goods to review!!

Nevertheless, Blueberry Knoll is, as the name suggests, a berry farm first, but in addition to fresh fruit in the summer, they have store on premises selling jams and granola, as well as a bakery! And naturally, the bakery is what interests me, lol! Apparently, or so the brother was told, they somewhat recently expanded their bakery to offer even more variety of pies, cookies, and butter tarts -- typical Canadian fare all baked on-site.

Likewise apparently, one of their more signature creations is their blueberry coffee cake ($6.49, I believe), baked with a generous amount of farm-fresh blueberries. This was good, very good. There was lots of fruit and the dough a nice, spongy texture: firm yet not dry. Um, it's a little hard to say anything more, but ha ha this was definitely one of the more notable finds the brother brought back for me to try!

Rating: ***