By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Only three weeks before Thanksgiving - do you know where your dinner rolls are coming from?

If you're hosting the festive feast, you're probably roasting the turkey, simmering the gravy and mashing the potatoes. If you're smart, you've asked someone to bring other side dishes and maybe dessert.

But who's going to make those beautiful golden brown dinner rolls everyone craves at Thanksgiving? Those feathery, crispy-crusted nuggets smacking of sweet yeast, oozing with rich butter? Who has the time and talent to bake them?

FROM THE FREEZER

If you'd like to pull dinner rolls from the oven - but aren't ready to bake from scratch - Bob Evans White Dinner Rolls from the grocery freezer case are a compromise. The 1999 Taste Team rated the Bob Evans rolls as the best-tasting supermarket rolls for their even brown color, crisp exterior and yeasty flavor. The freezer rolls require time for thawing and rising, but they bake in 20 minutes or less. And they'll make your kitchen smell wonderful. Catch is, the Bob Evans brand costs $2.39 per seven rolls. So bread from the bakery is usually a better bargain.

BEST PIES

Many people head to bakeries to buy not only dinner rolls, but also pumpkin pies for their Thanksgiving meal. After sampling nine pies last year, our Taste Team rated the pumpkin pie made by Busken Bakery (right) tops, for its flaky crust and "pumpkin-y" flavor. Pies from Bluebird Bakery (Glendale) and Frisch's finished second and third, respectively, in the taste test.

A bakery, of course. But which bakery makes the best-tasting rolls for your Thanksgiving spread?

We asked the Taste Team to tackle this one. They sampled baked, ready-to-serve dinner rolls from seven Greater Cincinnati bakeries, scoring them on taste, texture and appearance. These weren't just any dinner rolls, they were butterbit rolls - traditional Cincinnati gems raised with yeast, rolled with plenty of butter.

After nibbling thoughtfully for nearly an hour, the panel of eight tasters rated the rolls made by Regina Bakery - in Miami Heights and Cheviot - as the best butterbits. (Busken Bakery and Graeter's Confectionery finished second and third, respectively, in our test.) The Taste Team praised the rolls for their "homemade quality" and "tender, flaky crust."

Oh, and they loved the butter in Regina's butterbits, too.

How they rated

1. Regina Bakery

Average score: 7.8.

Price: $2.60 per dozen.

Comments: Homemade quality. Buttery taste. Tender, flaky crust.

2. Busken Bakery

Average score: 6.9.

Price: $2.15 per 8.

Comments: Great texture. Very flaky. Good, rich taste.

3. Graeter's Confectionery

Average score: 6.3.

Price: $2.95 per dozen.

Comments: Sweet, tender. Sweet taste. Yeasty-tasting.

4. Servatii Pastry Shop

Average score: 6.1.

Price: $1.95 per 8.

Comments: Buttery taste. Brown. Tender.

5. Bonomini Bakery

Average score: 5.7.

Price: $2.90 per dozen.

Comments: Homemade quality. Tender. Little dry.

6. Wyoming Pastry Shop

Average score: 5.1.

Price: $3 per dozen.

Comments: Chewy. Dry. Looks like artificial color.

7. Bonnie Lynn Bakery

Average score: 4.6.

Price: $2.35 per dozen.

Comments: Dry. Flat taste. Bland.

Where to buy rolls

• Bonnie Lynn Bakery (four Greater Cincinnati locations).

• Bonomini Bakery, 1677 Blue Rock Ave., Northside, 541-7501.

• Busken Bakery (12 Greater Cincinnati locations).

• Graeter's Confectionery (15 Greater Cincinnati locations).

• Regina Bakery, 3805 Shady Lane, Miami Heights, 941-1585; and 4025 Harrison Ave., Cheviot, 481-2985.

• Servatii Pastry Shop: (Five Greater Cincinnati locations).

• Wyoming Pastry Shop, 505 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming, 821-0742.

E-mail cmartin@enquirer.com