This article was taken from the “Texas Farm and Ranch Journal” October 15, 1981 This gives one the most in-depth views into the history of the Round Rock Donut and our Bakery.
Story by Jeanette DesLauriers

When Jan and Dale Cohrs bought the Lone Star Bakery in 1978, the two gained more than a bakery. Along with the original recipes, oven and bakery scales, they inherited 55 years of history. The Cohrs, unaware of the bakery’s colorful past, quickly learned to appreciate the Lone Star’s illustrious, far reaching reputation. Three years later Jan and Dale, sixth owners of the bakery, take pride in keeping the heritage of their serendipitous discovery alive.

Round Rock Doughnuts, made from the original owner’s recipe, are created with as much care and finesse as they were years ago. The yeast-risen doughnut originates from a bread-like dough; its distinct yellow color (from fresh eggs) immediately sets it off from any other doughnut. Unlike baking powder doughnuts, this yeast doughnut cannot be machine-made; it must be hand-rolled, cut, fried and iced. On busy days, now as in the past, the bakery turns out 200 dozen of these popular originals.

The bakery’s traditional Swedish rye bread bakes in the old rotary oven along with cinnamon rolls, coffeecakes, and fluffy meringue pies made from scratch. The second-hand oven was installed in 1929. It has no thermostat; a valve regulates the huge flame across the bottom. Baker Cohrs says it takes awhile to learn the “tricks of the oven.” The baker must “go by feel,” learning how to set the flame to produce the right temperature. If the gas pressure is up or down, it can throw a wrench in the whole operation.

There is no way to time the baking process either. How does the baker tell if a product is done? “By smell and sight, like Grandma used to do,” says Dale. When people ask him how long he bakes his bread, Dale laughingly replies, “Some days it takes 30 minutes, others an hour; it depends on how hot the oven is.”

Bakery goods are displayed in a beautiful wooden showcase purchased in the early 1900s from Nelson, Hardware, Round Rock’s first. The Cohrs have been offered a handsome sum for the antique, but they say it will stay with the bakery.

The most remarkable thing about Jan and Dale’s association with the Lone Star Bakery is the fact that they bought it without ever having seen or tasted the Round Rock Doughnut. “We didn’t know what we were getting,” says Dale. The Cohrs had heard about the popularity of the bakery and its doughnut but had only a vague idea of their history.

The Cohrs moved to Round Rock from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they had operated two successful doughnut shops. Dale, raised in Corpus Christi, had always wanted to come back to Texas. Formerly an oil business accountant, Dale switched to baking in Tulsa when he had the opportunity to learn the business from an experienced baker.

Dale inherited his knack for baking. His mother made German desserts from scratch. His Norwegian grandmother was an excellent pastry cook. Dale has always enjoyed working with dough. He appreciated the creativity involved and finds the satisfaction of starting out with flour and ending up with a beautiful loaf of bread.

The contemporary Lone Star Bakery offers more variety than the original, but the quality is still there. Preserving the old while adding the new marks the bakery’s philosophy. “Baked Fresh Daily” is the rule of thumb; all leftovers are donated to charity.

The bakery never sees a slow day; saturday mornings people stand in hour-long lines to sample the time-proven products. Travelers come for miles to taste the Round Rock doughnut and Swedish rye bread.

Holiday crowds are tremendous. This year will be the Cohrs’ fourth Round Rock Christmas; already their Christmas cookie is becoming another Lone Star tradition. Large companies begin ordering 80 dozen of the festive treats in October. Private individuals order right up until Christmas Day.

The cookie originates from the bakery’s tea cake cookie recipe, but it is rolled thinner, cut differently, and iced. This gives it a totally new taste. Each cookie is hand-cut and decorated. There are four designsÑbell, star, Christmas tree, and holly leaf. The cookie cutters used are very old and hard to replace. Last year, the holly leaf cutter was lost; another was finally found in a Corpus Christi antique shop. The Cohrs are proud of their artistic cookie. “It’s beautiful,” Dale says, “you’ll never see another one like it.”

The Cohrs enjoy the people who populate their bakery. Lone Star Bakery lovers include Texas, U.S., and even European travelers. A typical bakery day might see an artist, senator, businessman, farmer, or trucker walk through the door. “It’s rewarding to see people enjoy what they’re eating and to know that they’ll drive for miles to buy a unique product,” Dale says.

Cohrs credits the bakery’s enduring popularity to original owner R.R. Moehring and his successors who combined fine craftsmanship with pride in their product. He is proud to continue a tradition built on 55 years of quality. Moehring, age 88 is retired and lives in Georgetown, Texas.

Reinhold R. Moehring opened the Lone Star Bakery in 1926 in the Round Rock Main Street building where Kelley Cleaners now stands. Moehring and his wife ran the bakery for over 30 years. Moehring worked in a Georgetown bakery before opening his own shop in Round Rock. His son, “Red” Moehring worked in a Georgetown building where his father used to work.

Moehring began experimenting with dough recipes in the 1930s in an effort to produce a specialty product that would enable his small-town bakery to survive. By the early 1940s he had perfected the artistic creation which made his bakery uniqueÑthe renowned Round Rock Doughnut.

The tasty treat gained local recognition through the wholesale business with nearby towns. It worked its way all over the U.S. via servicemen whose mothers sent doughnuts as well as love. Some tourists, alerted by word-of-mouth, stampeded the bakery door to get a taste of the original doughnut.

Moehring maintained that lack of time and patience produces inferior doughnuts. “It takes hours to make doughnuts properly,” he said. His baker’s day often lasted from 3 a.m. until evening.

At the same time he was experimenting with doughnut recipes, Moehring and an associate, Mrs. Louise Johnson, developed the popular Swedish rye bread which became another Lone Star Bakery tradition. The bread comes from Mrs. Johnson’s basic Swedish rye recipe, with changes in proportions added by Moehring. Molasses gives the bread a dark and sweet flavor; very little rye is evident in the taste. The bread is popularly known as brown, dark or German black bread.

Selma Erlanson, Louise Johnson’s sister, became the second owner of Lone Star Bakery in 1943 when she bought the shop from Mr. Moehring. Selma and Louise ran the bakery from 1943-46, when it was sold to third owner Roy Hester. After Hester’s short stay, the bakery returned to original owner Moehring. In 1949, after a previous move, Moehring moved the bakery to the building that now houses Rubio’s Grocery.

Louise Johnson, fourth bakery owner, bought it from Moehring in 1960. Moehring stayed with the business awhile as part-time baker. Mrs. Johnson continued traditional Moehring favorites and added fruit pies, spice cookies, and baked cinnamon rolls (from the coffeecake dough) to the bakery’s repertoire. She found the bakery business very interesting; she especially enjoyed watching the business grow and meeting her variety of satisfied customers.

Mrs. Johnson, who owned the bakery from 1960-65, remembers making 200 loaves of Swedish rye a day. She had several out-of-state customers who ordered 100 loaves at a time. One fellow picked up his bread via private plane. Swedish rye is still the most popular bread sold at the bakery.

Mrs. Johnson recalls that Moehring also made excellent French bread and round, iced coffeecakes. Moehring built his business on quality rather than variety; his bakery pillars consisted of four basic productsÑthe famous doughnut, Swedish rye bread, white bread, and coffeecake. He sold no cakes and very few cookies.

Charlie Baird, fifth bakery owner, bought it from Mrs. Johnson in 1965. Lack of parking space downtown prompted Baird to build a new Lone Star Bakery in 1970 on West Liberty, its present location. While under Baird’s bakership, the Round Rock Doughnut was declared the best doughnut in Texas by Texas Monthly writer Richard West. Baird retired from the bakery business in 1978 when he sold the bakery to Jan and Dale Cohrs.

Round Rock tradition says the Lone Star Bakery was called the “German Bakery” by the Germans and the “Swedish Bakery” by the Swedes. It is clear, however, that it is everybody’s bakery. It’s a taste of history worth biting into.