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