Bread for Thanksgiving

I'm cooking for Thanksgiving again this year, but I'm making some easier items that can be done in advance, which includes cheating and stopping by a bakery for some kickass bread. I'm looking for two types of freshly-baked rolls and/or biscuits, specifically, one white or eggy and the other wheat/rye/oat for a healthier alternative. The entire menu isn't set in stone, but I'm thinking it will be "American": Clementine Salted Turkey or just plain ol' herby, buttery turkey and Hoosier Mama's Pork Apple Sage pie, possibly a duck, whipped cauliflower, roasted carrots/beets/other veggies sans taters, possibly dilled succotash or minted pea salad (this side is TBA) corn pudding, cranberries fresh from the can, Stovetop stuffing.

On my radar is Bridgeport Bakery and possibly Red Hen (although their ciabatta wasn't that great). I wasn't too crazy about Breadsmith in Skokie.

Any tips on who has great rolls/biscuits/etc? Location is not really an issue. Tell me your favorites!
Thanks!

Last year Trader Joe's had some great yeast rolls - tasted like my grandmothers. The rolls were made by La Briola. This info came from a discussion with the owner of the bakery

Sister Schubert's has good rolls if you want to do mail order or you can find them around. The Parker House rolls are really good but you'd have to bake them in the oven. Not sure if you are working on the oven/stove timing chart like I have to do every year!

I used to take biscuits to a family Thanksgiving and no-one ever ate them since they weren't 1) right out of the oven and 2) there was so much other food around and 3) no-one else was from the South. A couple of years I made sweet potato currant dinner biscuits and those got a few hits, but just regular biscuits were a dud.

grits wrote:Sister Schubert's has good rolls if you want to do mail order or you can find them around. The Parker House rolls are really good but you'd have to bake them in the oven. Not sure if you are working on the oven/stove timing chart like I have to do every year!

I used to take biscuits to a family Thanksgiving and no-one ever ate them since they weren't 1) right out of the oven and 2) there was so much other food around and 3) no-one else was from the South. A couple of years I made sweet potato currant dinner biscuits and those got a few hits, but just regular biscuits were a dud.

I would have eaten your biscuits, I loves biscuits!

Pie Lady wrote:

grits wrote:Sister Schubert's has good rolls if you want to do mail order or you can find them around. The Parker House rolls are really good but you'd have to bake them in the oven. Not sure if you are working on the oven/stove timing chart like I have to do every year!

I used to take biscuits to a family Thanksgiving and no-one ever ate them since they weren't 1) right out of the oven and 2) there was so much other food around and 3) no-one else was from the South. A couple of years I made sweet potato currant dinner biscuits and those got a few hits, but just regular biscuits were a dud.

I would have eaten your biscuits, I loves biscuits!

Clearly you have good taste. They were good biscuits, too--buttermilk, butter, KA flour, all good stuff. Oh well, live and learn.

You know, another idea (again, if you have any oven capacity and/or sanity left right after the turkey) is to make up some logs of refrigerator rolls yourself ahead of time and then do slice and bake. You could put someone else into service to slice and get the baking sheet ready. However, if you're trying to have less last-minute stuff to do, this is kind of going the other way.

I have a recipe for brioche here that makes two loaves. It says to refrigerate the dough overnight for the best flavor, which works out nicely. However, I was going to bring one loaf to Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's house and bake off the second loaf on Friday for Thanksgiving II. What do you think would happen if I left the dough in the fridge for two days instead of one?

Thanks!

you are gonna laugh at me, but they go nuts at my house for ol fashioned Pillsbury crescents!
(I have made up to 3 tubes at T-giving....)
For the more "healthier" minded, great harvest makes wonderful rolls, but you do have to order them.

I won't laugh. I love Pillsbury rolls! I have to stop myself from buying a tube of cinnamon rolls every time I walk past the case. I used to buy the bags of individual frozen rolls all the time—I'm not sure if they even still make those but I remember how they taste...mmmm

We decided to skip bread and rolls this year. With mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and stuffing we do not really need bread or rolls. Also the pies for dessert will help stuff us full. We also decided to skip vegetables and have a green salad instead.

The in-house baked challah rolls at Fresh Farms are really good. They are located in their own "cabinet", similar to one of those donut cabinets you see at Jewel. They are too the right of the bakery in the bread aisle across from the loaves of bread.

Pastoral had a sign by the register (at the Broadway location) that said they're taking par-baked bread orders for Thanksgiving. That might be a good compromise: someone else does most of the work, but you still get to pull hot, fresh bread out of the oven for Thanksgiving dinner.

We're going for year three of Thanksgiving at Khan BBQ, so I'm looking forward to tilwala naan, garlic naan, and parathas.

Sorry, I just always like to gloat about this new tradition.

Hi,

If you wanted to make your own homemade biscuits, you could make most of it in advance: measure out the dry ingredients, cut in the butter and pop it into a ziploc. This can be tossed in the freezer or refrigerator.

At the last moment, drop dry ingredients into a bowl, add buttermilk and mix until moist. Form into biscuits and bake.

No running around, fresh and yours!

Regards,

I think the gal from Smitten Kitchen has made and shaped the biscuits, then frozen the shaped biscuits. The biscuits can be baked straight from the freezer. Your mileage may vary, so I suggest baking a test batch (or two) before the big day.

I'm making Peter Reinhardt's Knotted Dinner Rolls from Fine Cooking:
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/knot ... rolls.aspx

Jen

Pie Lady wrote:I have a recipe for brioche here that makes two loaves. It says to refrigerate the dough overnight for the best flavor, which works out nicely. However, I was going to bring one loaf to Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's house and bake off the second loaf on Friday for Thanksgiving II. What do you think would happen if I left the dough in the fridge for two days instead of one?

Thanks!

It will be fine.

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

If you wanted to make your own homemade biscuits, you could make most of it in advance: measure out the dry ingredients, cut in the butter and pop it into a ziploc. This can be tossed in the freezer or refrigerator.

At the last moment, drop dry ingredients into a bowl, add buttermilk and mix until moist. Form into biscuits and bake.

No running around, fresh and yours!

Regards,

That's a very good idea. I think I will do that Tuesday to save me some time; I am going to attempt making these, odd as they sound. At least I'll be able to get rid of my self-rising flour:
http://www.post-gazette.com/food/19990506shirley3b.asp. Thanks!

I was asking for bakery ideas too so I'd have a back up plan just in case I goof. It's always a strong possibility with me. I have an obsession with trying new recipes, sometimes with disastrous results.