When you buy bread baked from Little Backstube in Clairemont, you’re getting something you won’t find at most grocery stores—slow-fermented sourdough made by hand, with love, right in your neighborhood. German-born baker Renate Neira puts her heart into every loaf, but what really sets her cottage bakery apart is the connection she’s built with the local community.
Renate launched Little Backstube in August 2024 and has been baking bread, scones, streusels, cookies, and cakes for locals ever since. Every Friday, neighbors from Clairemont and beyond pick up freshly baked goods from Renate’s Clairemont home or Swanson Memorial Pool in University City.
A Taste of Germany in Clairemont
In Germany, Backstuben (or bakeries) are as ubiquitous as the Starbucks stores you see on nearly every corner in the United States. Germany is also renowned worldwide for its incredible breads. When Renate moved to the United States with her family in 2001, she was underwhelmed by the bakeries and grocery store offerings here. So, she dusted off the baking skills she’d learned as a teenager and began baking her own bread.
Not only did Renate and her family reap the benefits of eating tasty home-baked bread, but she also fell in love with the process of making it.
“I like to work with bread, the stretching and preparing it, and the feeling of making it,” said Renate. “It’s similar to when you work with clay. It’s a rewarding process.”
Baking at Home for the Community
Renate began sharing her bread with friends and neighbors, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. That spurred the idea of turning her hobby into something more—a little bakery. California allows people to sell food made in their home kitchen through its Cottage Food Program. There are strict guidelines that include passing a food processor training course, meeting sanitation and food labeling requirements, and using only foods from a pre-approved list for cooking or baking.
Once Renate obtained her Cottage Food permit, she created a website and started promoting her bakery on Facebook and Nextdoor.
“I started with a couple of types of bread, and I didn’t have high expectations,” she said.
But when you make something great, word spreads quickly. The orders grew, and Renate expanded her offerings, now baking nearly around the clock, beginning Thursday afternoons, to offer the freshest loaves on Fridays. Renate works primarily as an accountant, but she relishes her newest role.
“I love being a community baker. In Germany, you have your baker within walking distance, and that’s just the best thing.”
Ordering from Little Backstube
Renate updates her website weekly with the baked goods she’ll offer for pickup the following Friday. She also posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor. Customers can place orders beginning on Saturdays at 9 am through Tuesdays at 4 pm. The menu varies each week but typically includes several sourdough bread flavors and a few dessert options, like a fruit pie and cookies.
Renate bakes both yeast and sourdough breads, but favors sourdough since it lasts nearly twice as long (up to a week) before going stale. More than its ability to last longer, Renate is simply enthralled by sourdough and the process of creating sourdough starters.
“It’s fascinating, especially since it’s only flour and water and nothing else,” she explained. “It’s created from the bacteria in your house, which gives it a certain flavor, so every household has a different flavor in their bread.”
While she initially experimented with spelt and rye breads, which are beloved in Germany, Renate found that Americans prefer traditional white bread or flavors like jalapeño cheddar. Her cinnamon chips sourdough is another fan favorite.
“People constantly ask for my cinnamon chips bread. They’re little chips, like chocolate chips, but with cinnamon and milk inside and a light sweetness, but not too extreme,” she explained.
Limited Special Order Options (for now)
Because Renate is constrained by having only one oven to bake in (she bakes five loaves at a time, by the way), she can’t accommodate most special orders, but will make exceptions if she has enough advance notice and the orders are in bulk. She’s made gluten-free breads in the past, but again, due to space constraints, she can’t store the extra flour right now.
Just as Renate’s little dream of starting a bakery became a reality, she is already dreaming bigger. If demand continues, she may convert her garage into a dedicated baking space with multiple ovens so she can increase her output.
Community Forward Bakery
Renate loves that Little Backstube has connected her to the community, allowing her to meet new people in her neighborhood and nearby. She also makes it a priority to give back, regularly giving away bread and cookies.
“Sometimes I have a little more left than I can use in a week, so I give it away for free on Nextdoor or Facebook,” she said. “At Christmas, I gave away 20 loaves to the community. That’s what I want to continue to do, giving something back to the community and to schools.”
The Important Stuff
💻 Place orders via Little Backstube’s website
📍Follow on Instagram and Facebook
⏰ Order pickups Friday mornings from University City and Friday afternoons/evenings from Clairemont
