Introduction
When it comes to dining out, nothing beats the smell and taste of freshly baked bread. Whether it’s a warm, crusty baguette or a soft, fluffy dinner roll, freshly baked bread can make any meal more enjoyable. Fortunately, there are several restaurant chains that bake their own fresh bread in-house. From fast-casual chains to upscale restaurants, these six restaurant chains are sure to satisfy your craving for freshly baked bread. From classic Italian focaccia to artisanal sourdough, these restaurants offer a variety of freshly baked breads that are sure to please. So, if you’re looking for a delicious meal with freshly baked bread, look no further than these six restaurant chains.
6 Restaurant Chains That Bake Their Own Fresh Bread
Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread. Whether it’s a crusty baguette, a fluffy dinner roll, or a hearty loaf of sourdough, the aroma of freshly baked bread is enough to make your mouth water. Fortunately, there are several restaurant chains that bake their own fresh bread every day.
1. Panera Bread
Panera Bread is one of the most popular restaurant chains in the United States. They bake their own bread in-house every day, using only the freshest ingredients. From classic French baguettes to hearty sourdough loaves, Panera Bread has something for everyone.
2. Au Bon Pain
Au Bon Pain is another popular restaurant chain that bakes its own fresh bread. They offer a variety of breads, including French baguettes, focaccia, and ciabatta. All of their breads are made with high-quality ingredients and baked fresh daily.
3. Subway
Subway is best known for its sandwiches, but they also bake their own fresh bread every day. From classic Italian loaves to hearty wheat breads, Subway has something for everyone. Plus, all of their breads are made with no artificial preservatives or flavors.
4. Einstein Bros. Bagels
Einstein Bros. Bagels is a popular chain of bagel shops. They bake their own fresh bagels every day, using only the finest ingredients. From classic plain bagels to specialty flavors like blueberry and cinnamon raisin, Einstein Bros. has something for everyone.
5. Bruegger’s Bagels
Bruegger’s Bagels is another popular chain of bagel shops. They bake their own fresh bagels every day, using only the finest ingredients. From classic plain bagels to specialty flavors like blueberry and cinnamon raisin, Bruegger’s has something for everyone.
6. La Madeleine
La Madeleine is a French-inspired restaurant chain that bakes its own fresh bread every day. From classic French baguettes to hearty sourdough loaves, La Madeleine has something for everyone. Plus, all of their breads are made with no artificial preservatives or flavors.
What good is going out to eat if the restaurant doesn’t bring bread to your table? You’ve placed your order and you can see everyone around you enjoying their food. Naturally, you’re going to be hungry, and you’re not going to want to wait what feels like hours for your meal to come out. Even if you ordered appetizers, you still have to wait. This is where the savior comes in: the bread. Bonus if they bake it fresh right in-house.
It turns out there are several reasons for this, as noted by the Los Angeles Times. Aside from giving hungry diners something to do before their food arrives, there’s also some science behind it. The carbs in bread cause your body to produce insulin, which in turn actually makes you hungrier even though you’re eating. Empty calories, if you will.
Despite lacking any real nutritional value, some restaurant breads are simply too good to pass up—especially if they’re made fresh. Of course, most chain restaurants get their bread shipped to them frozen to maintain consistency among their numerous locations. But these 6 chains bake their own fresh bread in-house from scratch.
The major steakhouse chains have all appeared in lists of the best chain restaurant breads, but Texas Roadhouse has confirmed that their bread is in fact made from scratch. As a matter of fact, there’s a whole section of its website dedicated to it. The company claims that its rolls are “baked fresh every five minutes,” so every table gets buns fresh out of the oven.
Diners rave about them too. In a Reddit poll asking which restaurant has the best free bread, Texas Roadhouse came out on top, thanks in part to the honey cinnamon butter that accompanies the rolls. (You can also get it in candle-form if you’re that into it.)
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Red Lobster openly admits that most of its fish is frozen rather than fresh, so it’s a bit shocking that the chain’s famous cheddar biscuits are actually made in-house—sort of. An employee broke down the process in a Reddit AMA. The mix gets shipped to the restaurant from headquarters, and one of the cooks has the sole responsibility of adding water, forming the biscuits, and brushing them with garlic butter once they come out of the oven. Sounds like a pretty good gig. Should you have a strange hankering for frozen biscuits, though, you can buy them frozen at your local grocery store.
Buca di Beppo is arguably most well-known for two things: its massive family-sized portions, and its mozzarella garlic bread. The bread is exactly what it sounds like: garlic bread topped with gooey melted mozzarella and some sprinkled parmesan. And according to the restaurant’s website, the bread is baked fresh. Fans of Buca bread raved when the restaurant posted a photo of it on Facebook. One even commented, “I DREAM OF BUCAS GARLIC CHEESE BREAD!”
Cracker Barrel is practically synonymous with comfort. The company is well aware of this, devoting a whole page on its website detailing how its food is made with “care.”
Despite its footprint of more than 660 stores, Cracker Barrel makes an effort to maintain its homegrown roots. The beef is roasted for 18 hours, the chicken is hand-breaded, and the biscuits are rolled by hand. In a blog post for National Buttermilk Biscuit Day, Cracker Barrel revealed that its restaurants not only have an oven dedicated solely to baking biscuits, but even have custom rolling pins and biscuit cutters designed to make the biscuits distinctly Cracker Barrel.
The Southern steakhouse chain, Logan’s Roadhouse, says its scratch-made yeast rolls have become a brand icon since the chain’s inception in 1991. Logan’s has also introduced made-from-scratch buns from the legendary yeast roll recipe, which they say will bring “the same delicious flavor and taste in every bite” of their half-pound steak burgers and sandwiches.
Some food bloggers have attempted copycat recipes for Logan’s buns with ingredients ranging from honey and butter to milk powder and dry yeast. In any case, online chatter suggests that for a lot of Logan’s fans, the Roadhouse rolls are the real reason a lot of patrons frequent the brand.
Fuddruckers is a chain that prides itself on using fresh ingredients. According to its website, the restaurants never freeze their beef, and they make their buns in-house every day. A Fuddruckers in Billings, MT even shared a video of the breadmaking process on Facebook, revealing that the dough is fully made from scratch. This bread doesn’t claim to be “baked fresh” when it really comes in frozen (ahem, Subway).
Luke Gralia