Mill Creek is now officially the home of a Guinness World Record.
On Feb. 10, almost four months to the day after House of Bread baked a giant cinnamon roll, the store received the certificate from Guinness World Records that said the store had, in fact, achieved a world record for the largest cinnamon roll ever baked.
The certificate from Guinness reads: “The record for the largest cinnamon roll is 111.8 kg (246.5 lb) and was achieved by the House of Bread in Mill Creek, Washington (USA) on 15 October 2005.”
“It came,” House of Bread co-owner Wayne Warren said about the certificate. “We’re happy.”
There was, however, some nerves being tested as Warren and his staff waited for official confirmation from Guinness. Warren was tracking the progress of the claim via the organization’s Web site, only to have the group temporarily take it down while some system upgrades took place.
“I waited six weeks for it to come back up,” Warren said.
But afterward, there was reason for Warren and his staff to be afraid. After the Web site became operational again, Warren discovered that his claim number wasn’t retained in the new system. He called Guinness and the organization confirmed that he had, in fact, obtained the record.
All requirements of the Guinness guidelines were gathered by House of Bread for submission as a world record. Pieces of the requirements were filled by officials from the Washington State Department of Agriculture; John Leerhoff, Food Safety Officer (WSDA Food Safety Program), reported that the giant cinnamon roll was indeed an edible cinnamon roll made to a larger scale than normal. Steve Nelson, WSDA Weights and Measures Inspector, used a certified scale to obtain an official weight of 246.5 pounds, and measured it from corner to corner as nearly seven feet in diameter. Larry Plett of Kirkland videotaped and photographed the event.
Guinness also required that the event be performed in public. The bakery turned it into a public event drawing approximately 1,000 people, many of whom helped to eat the roll.
As a fun follow-up, House of Bread will be baking a replica of the world’s largest for the Meet Me in Mill Creek Festival, which will take place July 8-9. The replica roll will be available for public consumption on July 8, a Saturday. Pieces of it will likely be sold, with all proceeds going to a yet-to-be-determined charity. The July event will not be a world record attempt.
“We thought that would be real fun to do,” Warren said. “We figured we’re getting pretty good at this.”
Prior to the world record attempt, House of Bread did a public event last Aug. 13 to see if baking such a roll were possible. That day, two scales were used to weigh the roll, which came out to approximately 260 pounds.
Warren said he wasn’t aware of any attempts to break his record.
The Guinness certificate is displayed in the bakery, which is located in Mill Creek Town Center, alongside pictures of the event.
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