Nationwide attention doesn’t spoil the treats of this country bakery

“Unique” and “unexpected” only begin to describe the experience of visiting one of Lake County’s most popular eateries.

Winding along County Road 48, past acres of Florida wilderness and the occasional fern farm, a European-façade building emerges around a bend in the community of Yalaha. The location is hard to miss as activity is brewing at the Yalaha Country Bakery usually at any time of day.

While customers start pulling in at the bakery parking lot just as sun begins to shine, staff at the authentic German bakery is hard at work before many others are awake.

“We start baking at 2 a.m. in the morning every day,” said Eberhard Roos, master baker at the bakery. “We mostly do the breads in the morning and at 8:30 we go on to the pastries.”

On an average weekday morning about 900 pounds of dough or about 500 loaves are baked fresh. The volume, however, is not what draws customers from afar, it is the quality.

“It is amazing, people will drive here from hundreds and hundreds of miles away to buy a loaf of bread,” Roos said.

“People enjoy quality products,” adds Gunter Herold, owner of the Yalaha Country bakery. “We do everything from scratch using the best possible ingredients.”

Beside the quality, the bakery is rich in choices. More than 40 different breads and rolls are offered as well as countless other pastries, cakes, pies, cookies and other delectable treats. The authentic Bavarian pretzels and rolls are also a local favorite. The prized item at the bakery is Stollen.

Featured on the Food Network and other national publications, Yalaha Country Bakery’s version of authentic German Stollen is a virtual star. Online orders and calls come in from as far away as Hawaii and Canada for this fruit bread of rum-soaked raisins and lemon peel. As the Stollen is good for about six or seven weeks, it is the only product the bakery will ship to its customers.
Popularity of the bakery may never swoon as its owner and operators continue to reinvent the establishment. Last year, a deli was added to the mix. It offers cold cuts atop some of the fresh breads and sausages imported from a German butcher in Sarasota, Fla.

“The Germans that come here for the bread often stay for the sausage. It’s a good combination,” Herold said.

Another combination that is winning praise at the bakery is the hybrid of country baking and American folk music. Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on the bakery patio, folk artists strum away on acoustic guitars for crowds of adoring listeners munching on fresh baked goods.