Yellowknife (Jan 07/05) - Man shall not live by bread alone, but if Henry Kruse has his way, Yellowknifers will be able to enjoy all the crusty, European-style rye and pumpernickel they can handle.

The 73-year-old, who closed his famous and family-run Kruse's Bakery in 1994 after a quarter century, has come out of retirement to re-open a shop in Calgary's Crossroads Market.

"There could be a chance we could be sending some bread up there again," said Kruse of his former Yellowknife customers. "Wherever I went when I was in Yellowknife, they were all still talking about Kruse's bread."

The third generation baker still has children who live in Yellowknife. He has been sending bread North regularly to sustain his family and friends.

"Whenever we want bread we just have to ask of him," said Astrid Kruse, Henry's daughter.

While on a visit to Yellowknife over the Christmas holidays though, he met with the bakery managers at both Extra Foods and the Yellowknife Co-op about supplying the grocers with some of his fine baked goods.

Discussions about supplying the stores, he hopes, could begin as soon as a transportation system has been worked out and his bakery could accommodate the mass orders.

"It would be hard to see something like that happening," said Mike Crutchlow, bakery supervisor at Extra Foods. "He's just doing a small operation down there. He did have terrific bread, but I think it'll be up to people to go to Calgary," he said.

Bonnie White, bakery manager at the Yellowknife Co-op, met with Kruse during his visit. She said it is possible the store may carry Kruse's bread. "We're not limited to suppliers," she said. "If we're looking for a product we just seek out a sample, so there's no reason we can't."