Authentic Australian bakeries are not very common in America, but you can find a truly 'Great' one in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Great Australian Bakery first opened in the Southwestern United States a little over a year ago. It was the brainchild of Lawrence Lindahl, an Australia native who's been in the States for more than a decade. He decided to take a major part of his life and transplant that to his new home country. “I created the concept of The Great Australian Bakery so there could be a little slice of home right here in Scottsdale, and for anyone looking for a delicious treat Australian style,” he says.

He welcomes newcomers to experience some new foods from a different culture and fellow Aussies to enjoy some nostalgic tastes from their homeland.

Most of the menu is devoted to meat pies, such as the popular cottage pie, which is similar to a shepherd’s pie but substitutes a generous scoop of creamy, homemade potato mash on top of the pie for the traditional mashed potato crust. Also heavily requested are the bakery’s sausage rolls, an iconic Australian treat that is comprised of a fluffy, flaky puff pastry wrap filled with a peppery pork-beef sausage.

The bakery’s unique dessert offerings consist of such delights as matchsticks, which sandwiches raspberry jam and sweet cream between two sticks of flaky puff pastry and topped with powdered sugar. Also popular are the apricot-filled strudels and lamingtons, which are white sponge cakes dipped in chocolate ganache and rolled in desiccated coconut.