The Forgotten Art of the Bakery Roll

There are certain things in a bakery that naturally get all the attention.

A beautifully decorated cake is hard to ignore.

A case filled with fresh donuts will stop just about anyone.

A big loaf of sourdough coming out of the oven looks impressive before you’ve even sliced into it.

And then there are the rolls.

They aren’t flashy.

Nobody is taking a hard roll out of the bag and immediately reaching for their phone to take a picture.

But put a basket of fresh bakery rolls in the middle of the dinner table and watch what happens.

Someone takes one.

Then someone else does.

The butter comes out.

A roll gets torn in half while it’s still warm.

Before dinner is even finished, somebody asks if there are any more.

After five generations in the bakery business, we’ve learned not to underestimate the simple things.

And a really good bakery roll is one of them.

Remember When Fresh Rolls Were Just Part of Dinner?

There was a time when stopping at the bakery for bread wasn’t something people saved for a special occasion.

It was simply part of getting dinner ready.

You picked up fresh bread or rolls on the way home, put them in a basket, and passed them around the table.

Somewhere along the way, convenience took over.

Bread started coming home in plastic bags designed to sit on the counter for days or weeks. Rolls became something we grabbed from the grocery store when we remembered them.

They’re convenient.

We’ll give them that.

But freshly baked bread is different.

The crust has texture.

The inside is soft.

The bread actually has flavor of its own.

A fresh bakery roll doesn’t simply hold your sandwich together.

It becomes part of the sandwich.

That’s a distinction we’re pretty passionate about around here.

Let’s Talk About the Hard Roll

Hard rolls don’t get nearly enough credit.

The name probably isn’t helping.

“Hard roll” doesn’t exactly sound like something you’re going to get excited about eating.

But if you know, you know.

A proper bakery hard roll has a crisp exterior and a soft interior. It gives you enough structure to hold everything you’re putting inside without turning lunch into a wrestling match.

Pile one with ham and cheese.

Build a turkey sandwich.

Add chicken salad.

Use one for a breakfast sandwich with egg, bacon, and cheese.

Or tear one open while it’s fresh and add butter.

That’s the beauty of good bread.

It doesn’t need much help.

Then There Are Croissants

Calling a croissant a roll may get us in trouble with France, so we’ll tread carefully here.

But it absolutely belongs in this conversation.

Croissants are one of those bakery items that people tend to assign exclusively to breakfast.

We disagree.

Yes, a fresh croissant alongside coffee in the morning is pretty hard to beat.

But take that same buttery, flaky croissant and fill it with chicken salad at lunch.

Now we have an entirely different conversation.

Turkey and cheese works beautifully.

Ham and Swiss.

Egg salad.

Or simply warm one slightly and eat it with butter or jam.

Actually, you can skip the butter.

We already took care of that part.

And Then We Put Everything Seasoning on One

At some point, someone around here apparently looked at a perfectly good croissant and thought:

“You know what this needs?”

Everything seasoning.

We support this kind of thinking.

Our Everything Seed Croissant takes the buttery layers of a traditional croissant and adds that savory combination of seeds and seasoning that makes an Everything Bagel so difficult to resist.

It’s one of those combinations that makes sense as soon as you taste it.

Have one with breakfast.

Turn it into a sandwich.

Serve it alongside soup.

Or eat it standing in the parking lot because you told yourself you were going to wait until you got home and then immediately changed your mind.

Again, no judgment.

Yes, Those Pretzels Are Coming from the Bakery Too

Another item that deserves a little more attention is our authentic pretzel.

A proper pretzel is completely different from the packaged version most of us grew up eating.

It should have that distinctive exterior, a soft and chewy inside, and enough flavor that you can enjoy it without covering it in anything.

Of course, we’re certainly not going to object to mustard or cheese.

Warm one slightly and you’ve got an easy afternoon snack.

Add them to a football spread.

Put them out when friends come over.

Pair them with cheese and other snacks for an easy appetizer.

Or just eat one.

Sometimes food doesn’t need a strategy.

Small Breads Make Great Sandwiches

This is where our bakery and kitchen have always worked particularly well together.

We know what happens when good bread becomes the foundation of lunch.

Our Sandwich Shop and catering kitchen go through plenty of bread because sandwiches are only as good as what holds them together.

That same idea works at home.

You don’t have to make an elaborate lunch to make a good one.

Fresh bakery bread, quality meat, cheese, and a few favorite toppings can turn an ordinary sandwich into something you actually look forward to eating.

If you’re feeding more than just yourself, rolls also make entertaining considerably easier.

Set out the fillings.

Put the rolls in a basket.

Let everyone build their own.

We’ve been feeding people long enough to know that sometimes simple wins.

Don’t Save Good Bread for Company

This may be the biggest thing we want people to take away from our expanded bread selection.

Fresh bread doesn’t need an occasion.

You don’t need to be hosting Sunday dinner.

You don’t need a charcuterie board.

You don’t need twenty people coming over.

Buy two hard rolls because you’re making sandwiches for lunch.

Grab a couple of croissants for tomorrow morning.

Bring home an Everything Seed Croissant because you’ve never tried one.

Pick up a pretzel because it’s 3:00 in the afternoon and you’re hungry.

That’s enough of a reason.

Some of the best things a bakery makes aren’t celebration foods.

They’re Tuesday foods.

They’re the things that quietly make an ordinary meal better.

Five Generations and Still Making Rolls

Cinotti’s has grown considerably through five generations.

We’ve gone from a traditional family bakery to a place where you can grab breakfast, order lunch, pick up catering, have a handcrafted coffee, shop imported Italian foods, explore Italian wines, and still leave with a birthday cake.

There are plenty of exciting things happening around here.

But we haven’t lost our appreciation for the basics.

Flour.

Water.

Yeast.

Butter.

Time.

Technique.

Those simple ingredients and the people working with them are still at the heart of a bakery.

Sometimes they become a beautiful loaf of bread.

Sometimes they become a flaky croissant.

And sometimes they become a little hard roll that never gets much attention until you take the first bite.

We’re perfectly fine with that.

Stop by the Bread Case

Next time you visit Cinotti’s, take a look at what’s coming out of the bread department that morning.

Grab a few hard rolls for sandwiches.

Take home fresh croissants for breakfast or lunch.

Try an Everything Seed Croissant if you’re looking for something a little different.

And if you see our authentic pretzels, you probably already know what to do.

While you’re here, take a look at our daily sourdough, pumpernickel rye, Italian bread, French loaves, Vienna loaves, and four-braid Everything Seed twists too.

You don’t need a special occasion.

Sometimes you just need really good bread.

Make Tomorrow’s Lunch Better

Stop by Cinotti’s Bakery & Italian Market and pick up fresh rolls, croissants, pretzels, or a loaf of bread for home.

If you’d rather let us make lunch, visit our Sandwich Shop for fresh-made favorites, or explore our Catering Menu for sandwich trays, sub trays, boxed lunches, and more when you’re feeding a crowd.

Grab a coffee while you’re here.

We’ll understand if the croissant doesn’t make it home.