Brown 'n Serve Rolls

Joe Gregor, who owned the local bakery in Avon Park, discovered by accident that rolls could be partly baked in a commercial bakery, taken home, and finished in the family oven.

Joe was a volunteer fireman with the Avon Park Fire Department. One day in the spring of 1949, the fire siren interrupted his morning baking. He turned off an oven full of half-cooked rolls to respond to the fire alarm. When he returned, expecting the batch to be ruined, he baked them the rest of the way and found they were as fresh and fluffy as freshly mixed dough. The rest, as we say, is history.

General Mills bought the recipe and process from Gregor in 1949, turning “Brown ’n Serve” into a nationwide household staple. The Depot Museum’s exhibit features Joe Gregor’s original baking tins, bowls, pans, and a plate of rolls commemorating Avon Park’s tastiest contribution to American kitchens.