Bakers at Perlmutar's Bakery hold a 99lb challah prepared for the Hadassah Bazaar, Toronto

Admin History/Bio: The Perlmutar Bakery, located at 175 Baldwin Street, was opened in 1911 by Arrin Perlmutar who had immigrated to Canada from the Ukraine by way of London, England. He opened the bakery on the main floor of his home while his family of seven lived upstairs. The bakery had a wood-burning brick oven until the 1960s, when the city forced them to convert to electric. The bakery was best known for their onion buns and rye bread. Electric mixers were used for cakes and bread but almost every other step was done by hand. Bread baking was started by 10:00 p.m. so that there would be fresh bread to deliver in the morning. The bakery closed in 1974.

Scope and Content: Left to right: Ben Zalvin; Harry Elishevitz; Arrin Perlmutar.

Repro Restriction: Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.