Russian Rye and <i> Pan Dulce </i> : People: A baker cooks up the tastes of childhood, for himself and his customers.

For years after he immigrated to Los Angeles, Adolf (Ed) Krumer dreamed of opening a bakery to make the hearty European breads he enjoyed while growing up in the Soviet Union.

Little did he anticipate that his San Fernando bake shop also would specialize in empanadas, conchas and other Mexican pan dulce.

But a good capitalist must respond to the laws of commerce, supplying what the public demands. In San Fernando, that public is largely Latino. So the 58-year-old Kiev native has tailored his goods at the Royal Natural Foods International Bakery to help fulfill his American dream.

“Because we are in a Mexican neighborhood, these people like this bread and we bake it,” Krumer said of the traditional sweetbreads. “People tell me it’s the best bread in town.”

Krumer even renovated a boxy, windowless 5,600-square-foot building to reflect Mexican architecture, with graceful arched windows and a red tile roof.

He sells about 45 types of Mexican breads. And although he doesn’t speak Spanish, he has painted signs on the outside of the building beckoning passersby to try the pan fresco, pasteles a su gusto-- fresh bread, pastries prepared to your taste.

In addition to the Mexican breads and cookies, the bakery boasts a case full of French pastries. Custard eclairs and flaky Napoleons nestle next to rich raspberry-chocolate mousse cakes.

But Krumer, an outgoing man with the charm--and accent--of an Old European gentleman, has mixed Ukraine and Jalisco with a touch of Hollywood.

A special showroom, complete with mirrored walls and a crystal chandelier, allows the betrothed to peek at eight samples of multitiered wedding cakes adorned with sugar swans and frosting roses. And brides who order cakes from Krumer get a free makeup lesson from his daughter, a beautician, at a vanity table in one corner.

But the part of the bakery closest to Krumer’s heart, and stomach, is the rack filled with 11 types of European bread.

He carefully explains the subtle difference in taste between the round and rectangular loaves of Moscow rye bread--slight gradations he credits to the shapes of the pans and the way they conduct heat. He eagerly opened packages recently to give visitors a taste and whiff of the rich bread, explaining that Arnout Russian rye is a cross between rye and wheat and that there are untold health benefits from the Ukrainsky rye.

“It’s like a piece of stone,” he said. “But what is good about this bread is it’s very healthy. It works your stomach like a brush.”

Krumer said bread has always played an important part in his life.

“Nothing can keep people alive like bread,” he said. “It is everything.”

During World War II, Krumer’s mother took him from Kiev to Siberia to escape the invading German army. They lived on two pieces of bread a day.

“From Siberia, I always remember the smell of bread like a good thing,” he said.

Indeed, that is one of the things he missed about his homeland after he emigrated with his wife, three children and son-in-law in 1975.

When he arrived in Los Angeles, Krumer pursued the same kind of work--repairing office equipment--that he had done in the Soviet Union. He eventually opened up three shops that sold typewriters. When discount stores began underselling him, he closed two of his shops and turned his attention to bakeries.

“I always had on my mind the bread,” he said. “Nobody made the Russian bread.”

Krumer wrote to friends in the Soviet Union asking them for bread recipes and consulted a Russian baker he met in Los Angeles. A friend who later visited brought him a handful of Russian flour so he could search for the most similar flour in the United States.

Krumer then hired a baker--who is Mexican--and tested recipes at a small shop in Sepulveda, trying them out on Los Angeles’ Russian community.

As word spread and business picked up, Krumer opened the bakery in San Fernando in 1990. He works there, he says, from 5 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. seven days a week, doing everything from ordering ingredients to checking kitchen equipment.

“In this great country we have a great opportunity and we need to work hard,” Krumer said.

The hard work seems to be paying off. The bakery sells 800 loaves of the Russian and European breads a day, he said. Customers can buy the bread off the bakery racks. Loaves also are delivered to groceries and delis around Southern California and San Francisco.

And the Mexican breads, baked at the suggestion of one of his Latino bakers, are receiving good reviews. Kiki Helland of Castaic, whose parents are from Mexico, said she drops by the bakery for the Mexican treats she enjoyed as a child.

“When I saw them, I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ ” she said, pointing out the baked goods in the case. “I tried them and they were all good. They taste homemade.”