The Little German Bakery

About the business

The Little German Bakery began, in the owners' own telling, "with a craving for real bread — the hearty, robust loaves Doris grew up with and couldn't find here.

So she started baking them herself." In 2016 Doris Whelan began selling her breads at farmers' markets in Carleton Place, Brockville, Kingston, and beyond, and market regulars "became devoted fans who planned their weekends around a fresh Berliner or a warm loaf."

In June 2023 Doris and her husband and business partner, Rob Seto, converted a space in downtown Carleton Place into a fully working specialty bakery — "contractors, hard-to-find equipment, health regulations and all" — giving their treats a permanent home at 14 Bridge Street. The promise, the bakery says, has not changed: "honest baking, made from scratch, fresh every single morning."

Their pretzels, Berliners and breads follow traditional German methods — "no shortcuts, no mixes, no compromises." The case holds the classic soft pretzel with its deep mahogany crust and coarse salt, along with cinnamon, cheese, pizza and meat-lover's pretzels and the pretzel dog. Raspberry is the top-selling Berliner; the custard version "started as a happy accident" when a batch was made without jam and customers loved it enough to earn it a permanent spot in the case. Alongside them come Bee Sting Cake, apple fritters, apple strudel and danishes, and on the bread side potato bread, buttermilk bread with coriander, sunflower and toasted sesame, marble rye, sourdough, Brötchen and sausage rolls.

Alongside the baking, the shelves carry what they call The Grocery Corner — hard-to-find German and European groceries. They stock Bechtle spätzle and egg noodles, Knorr mixes for schnitzel, gulasch and rouladen, Knödel and potato dumpling mixes, Löwensenf mustards, Kühne pickles and sauerkraut, Hengstenberg red cabbage, Maggi seasoning and Dr. Oetker puddings; the sweet shelf has Milka, Haribo, Manner and Loacker, the coffee shelf Tchibo, Eduscho and Davidoff, and there are herring fillets and rolmops in the cooler alongside European juices and sodas.

Everything is baked fresh daily in small batches, so the day's selection varies and popular items can sell out — especially on Saturdays. The bakery's own advice is to come early, or to call ahead at 613-257-8181 to reserve favourites. Sundays are pretzels and Berliners only, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.