This Steakhouse Restaurant Chain Always Makes Its Bread Fresh

In an age when many U.S. restaurant chains are cutting back on costs, replacing menu items with less satisfying alternatives, and using pre-made sauces instead of making recipes in-house, there is at least one popular restaurant chain that still insists on making everything from scratch, including its complimentary items. Contrary to what its name would imply, Texas Roadhouse is a chain of steakhouses started by Kent Taylor in Clarksville, Indiana, in 1993 and is famous for its fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs and affordable steaks. The company now owns more than 700 restaurants in the United States and abroad. Diners are presented with Texas Roadhouse's signature rolls — which are baked fresh every five minutes — with honey cinnamon butter when they're seated.

When it comes to baked goods, many chains make the dough in a central kitchen or outsource the products to a third party, like the brand behind Olive Garden's breadsticks. One Redditor thought this was the case and commented that they assumed Texas Roadhouse's "bread comes in frozen." However, another user claiming to be an employee replied to that comment. "There really isn't much that is frozen or pre-made at Texas Roadhouse," they countered. "Almost everything is made from scratch."

The self-identified employee on Reddit provided a little more detail on the bread-making process at Texas Roadhouse, stating that the rolls "start out as powdered dough mix, yeast, sugar and water that is mixed into a [50-pound] dough ball that we hand roll out into a sheet that is cut into each individual roll. It is a time consuming process that would be so much easier and faster if it was frozen dough." While using a pre-made dry mix for making rolls isn't as egregious as what some other chain restaurants are doing, some diners may take issue with Texas Roadhouse's claim that its food is made from scratch. After all, many people wouldn't consider a home baker who uses a box of cake mix to have prepared a cake from scratch, even if it's one of the top-ranked boxed cake mixes.

However, the definition of "from scratch" isn't entirely clear and can vary from cook to cook and restaurant to restaurant. For most Texas Roadhouse diners, though, it's enough to know that the dough is made in-house at each location and baked fresh every five minutes. The rolls are clearly delicious enough to keep customers coming back for more.