Some time ago, we announced our intention to go on a trip across Northern Europe, hitting the Nordic capitals of Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen. Shortly after that, a customer of ours reached out to us and let us know that he knew a baker named Mattias over in Sweden and that he could introduce us. Obviously, we were excited about this as we didn’t have any contacts or connections in any of these cities, so this would be a chance for us to get a better look at Swedish baking culture. Collectively, we don’t know much about the international baking scene. Realistically, we don’t even know a lot about the United States baking scene. We run a small bakery in a small town in Minnesota, and we are quite happy where we are at and the community in which we live and serve.

After arriving, we set up a time to meet up. Now, initially we sort of assumed that we’d head over to his bakery ask a few questions, and then be on our merry way. What we got instead was something wonderful and humbling.

Mattias Wallmark, along with Per Olsson own Lundbergs Konditori, a traditional Swedish bakery in Stockholm that has been in operation since 1946. Both Mattias and Per (as well as members of their lovely team) have competed in baking competitions successfully on both a National and International level. These are world class bakers, so when we learned that Mattias wanted to not only show us around Lundbergs Konditori, but also take us all around Sweden to his favorite bakeries, we were shocked and grateful.

Our day began in Gamla Stan at our accommodations. Graciously, Mattias agreed to pick us up there. Now, Stockholm’s old town has very narrow cobblestone streets, and it isn’t entirely obvious (as far as I can tell anyway), where cars are intended to fit into the mix. I can’t imagine driving through there being a straightforward experience, but Mattias did it anyway (thanks again, Mattias). From there we were off to Lundbergs. On our way there, we chit-chatted about baking, Sweden and America, and other small topics. Mattias also identified points of interest throughout Stockholm and outlined their history and significance. We also talked about music and even got some new recommendations to check out, which is always appreciated.

Soon enough, we ended up at Lundbergs. When brought inside, we were met with a tidy and classic looking bakery. Mattias brought us up to speed on the updates they performed on the place after taking over, and explained the desire to keep the classic 40s feel, complete with original windows. Right away, just at a glance, I realized just the position I found myself in. Of the four of us (Madi, Shay, Derek, and myself), I am the most junior baker. I’ve only really been at it in a serious fashion for about 3 years. I had been employed as a ingredients prep/assistant baker at a popular cake shop in Duluth known as How Sweet It Is Cakes back in 2016-2017 for about 5 or 6 months (Shay was a senior cake decorated there, she has some very serious cake decorating pedigree). Besides that though, it’s been manual labor, IT, and Cybersecurity. Sometimes I wake up and wonder at the direction my life has taken; I don’t mean this in a negative way, it’s just if I had asked myself when I graduated from High School where I’d be in 10 years time, operating a Nordic bakery and a cafe would not be what I guessed.

All this to say, being in that place, along with friends and spouses, sitting across an incredible baker in Mattias, sampling a vast array of goods made us realize: we know very little in the grand scheme of things, and we have much to learn.

But enough about us; let’s talk Swedish baking at Lundbergs. Mattias was gracious enough to allow us to sample a variety of things. We elected to try some classics we are familiar with, as well as some new things. Among the classics was a Cardamom Bun (our Cardamom Krown is similar), Budapest Roll, and a Custard Bun (our Stockholm is somewhat similar). The new-to-us items were a Rhubarb Tart, and a brand new confection developed at Lundbergs, a sort of Raspberry Mousse Torte. It should go without saying, but all of these baked goods and confections were absolutely delectable. As was the coffee.

We chatted a while longer and then Mattias showed us around the bakery. Again this was above and beyond what we expected. It was so cool to see these professionals in their work environment. Everyone wore big smiles and were wonderful to meet and talk to.

After taking a look around, we went back to the lobby where Mattias served up some of their in-house made ice cream (or ‘glass’ in Swedish). Also amazing. Shay and I split a some butterscotch and Madi and Derek went for cherry. It was especially perfect as it was unseasonably hot in Sweden for the entirety of our stay. Ice cream goes a long way!

We then loaded up and head out to another bakery. This time we would be visiting an all-organic bakery with a long history: Park Bageri & Konditori.

We arrived at Park and head in. Mattias greeted his friends and explained that we ran a bakery in Minnesota and were touring the Nordic Countries for inspiration to bring back home. He also mentioned to us that this bakery would soon be 100 years old and featured some nationally recognized and award winning bread. Once again, the staff was incredibly kind to us, taking time out of their day to show us around and answer questions. We were given a full tour, greeted warmly, and before heading off to our next stop, the generous folks at Park loaded up a to-go bag full of treats, breads, and salads for us to take and try. We’d end up devouring much of it later in the evening, and it was all truly incredible. Shrimp Salad, Chicken Salad, chokladbollar, sweet rolls, loaves of bread, all of it.

On to our next stop: Dåndimpens Smörgåsshop, We were told that this shop was in a unique and cool location, off the beaten path in an industrial section of Stockholm. While we were headed in that direction we stopped off at another interesting spot called Brisket and Friends. Mattias mentioned it too was in a cool industrial spot, in an old carwash, and it was a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in Stockholm. Now, by this time we were all feeling a bit homesick, so we quickly stopped in. The smell alone was enough to ease our homesickness, and it was indeed in a very unique spot. We didn’t stay long, and shortly after we continued our way to the Sandwich shop.

We arrived at a seemingly non-descript industrial warehouse-type building, but nestled there in was this Sandwich shop. Once again Mattias brought us in, greeted his friends (including Adam Söderström, an award and competition winning Swedish baker), and made introductions. We made our way to the back and met the staff, including owner Petrus Jakobsson. We talked at length with him in the back while he was preparing breads for a restaurant. He explained that he used to operate a highly regarded bakery, Bagari Petrus, in a busy part of town. He gave up the location to seek a more peaceful balanced life, something that when I heard it, I had instantaneous respect for. I would describe Petrus as “down to earth”. He was relaxed, jovial, and willing to talk with some small-towners from Minnesota. He was surprised to hear that one of our most popular lunch specials is the Flying Jacob, a dish that has strongly fallen out of fashion in Sweden. He described the Flying Jacob as a “love it or hate it” dish in Sweden, with the majority being in the “hate it” category. This is something we were surprised to learn, but he redoubled his comments with his love of the dish. We continued chatting for sometime about business philosophy and baking, all the while he diligently worked. He let us sample a bread roll with raisins and a open-faced sandwich: shrimp salad on cardamom dough bread. A very unique taste, but it was all immaculate. We also had a jelly filled pastry and classic small Swedish cookies, like Finnish almond cookies and thumbprints!

Just thinking abut the flavor, don’t mind me…

We parted ways with the sandwich shop, and moved on to another bakery. This whole time my head was spinning. We had been met with such kindness and generosity from, again, some of the best bakers in the entire world that a strong case of impostor syndrome was setting in for me personally. How did I end up here? Why are these people taking time out of their undoubtedly busy days to show some small-time bakers from the Northern U.S. around? How did we deserve any of this? These are questions I don’t have any answers for, strictly speaking. What I can say is that we were all overwhelmed by the kindness our hosts showed us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, and we couldn’t be more grateful to all that showed us around.

The next and final stop on our grand tour was a bakery in a small, old Swedish house: Enskedeparkens Bageri. This location was in a beautiful park area, near stables, in a an old, red house. It was quite small (and this is coming from us; our space isn’t exactly large at the moment). I felt for the staff, it was so hot in that small building that they needed to send people on cool-down breaks outside. At the back of the house was the entrance to the bakery proper. There were three bakers working, and there was just enough room. Each person was basically relegated to a single standing position. Another classic bakery, Enskedeparkens had a host of classic rolls and, of course, coffee. A beautiful location full of yet more beautiful people.

The berries on these rolls were so tasty.

This would be our final stop on Mattias’ tour. This time around, we didn’t want to make him navigate the small and cumbersome streets of Gamla Stan. He drove us to the side of the palace, and we parted ways with an embrace.

That evening, with the lovely goods provided by Park Bageri and Konditori, we had a delightful supper. The salads were magnificently fresh and packed with flavor. The breads were so moist and packed with delicious sour rye flavor, a perfect complement. The sweet rolls and chokladbollar were also fantastic. There was no better dinner in all of Sweden, I am convinced.

Just look at these loaves! (Please ignore the cough medicine, we forgot to move it before taking the picture)

It is now that I would like to apologize to all staff at all locations if any of the above details are vague or if I misunderstood anything. It was a lot to take in, and I did my best to most accurately depict our experiences. I missed names of people and places and things, which is shortcoming of my own. Just know that all of us here from Krown Bakery in Anoka thank you from the very depths of our hearts for the kindness and generosity you have all shown. It will never be forgotten, and for me personally, has lit a fire under me that will not soon go out.

I want to thank Mattias Wallmark for hauling us around and showing a whole new world of baking to us. I also want to thank all the staff at Lundbergs, Park, Dåndimpens, and Enskedeparkens for allowing us into your space to gawk and say “wow!” Of course, also for taking the time to meet us.

I would also like give a grand thank you to Hans, our customer and connection. Without you, we would have missed out on all of this. Sincerely, thank you.

Thank you all from the deepest part of our collective hearts. We would be honored to cross paths with such an array of mega-talented people again. Tack så mycket!

Apologies for the delay on this post. We had a long day yesterday getting ready for our next leg in Copenhagen. I am now running a day behind on these posts, but I will catch up tomorrow. So you can look forward to Day 6, the last day in Stockholm, and Day 7, the first day in Copenhagen, tomorrow! Thank you all for reading, and we’ll be back tomorrow.

Day 5 – A Tour of Bakeries

Krown Bakery & Eatery