[bcbrown]

I'm not from Philly, but my mom is, and every time I went back east I ate plenty of cheese steaks. To me, the essense of the bread is a chewyness, a toothiness. The crumb is substantial, the crust is minimal. If you bake bread in Vietnam than you must have a good understanding of a french-style baguette, right? That's a bread where the crust is shattering-crisp and the internal crumb is light and pillowy, yeah? The roll for a cheese steak is the opposite.

My grandmom's theory was that it was the water from the Schuylkill that made the rolls inimitable. I wish I had a recipe I could share with you, but instead I can only wish you luck.