STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

With winter settling in, it’s not difficult for Jerry Edelbrock to keep his Cloverstone Gluten-Free pizza crusts and dinner rolls frozen as he pedals them around to Atkinsons’ in Ketchum, Hailey and Bellevue.

The wind chill as he pedals his Yuba cargo bike up and down the Wood River bike path easily keeps them frozen as he pedals the 11 miles from his house at Hailey’s north end to Ketchum where he also delivers them to NourishMe.

The rolls, in particular, are in high demand right now as Sun Valley-area residents purchase them for Thanksgiving Dinner.

“The former owner tells us that they’re the No. 1 sales item at Whole Foods in Boise in November and December,” said Jeri Howland.

Jerry Edelbrock and Jeri Howland have returned Cloverstone Gluten-Free Rolls and Pizza Crust to local shelves five years after they vanished after their creator Colleen Teevin moved to Glenns Ferry.

Teevin, a pastry chef, created the gluten-free Cloverstone Bakery in 2011 after she realized that she had celiac disease. Howland, a seven-time Ironman champion and winner of dozens of ultramarathons, decided to go gluten-free after reading how pro cycling teams go gluten-free before big races like the Tour de France to reduce inflammation.

“We had been complete devotees to Big Wood Bread—I took a loaf of bread in my purse everywhere I went,” she recounted. “My joints had started to bother me so I decided to try going gluten-free and I found not only instant relief from my joint pain but I felt I had more energy. We tried the Cloverstone rolls and couldn’t stop eating them. We even drove to Boise to pick up a cooler full at Whole Foods when we could no longer get them here.”

Still, the absence of the rolls locally left a void. And, when they learned that Teevin wanted to sell the business so she could concentrate on Six Creeks Mercantile in Glenns Ferry, they jumped on the opportunity to return the rolls to their roots in the Wood River Valley.

“We couldn’t let it die. It’s part of local food,” said Howland.

The couple began stocking the product in Atkinsons a couple months ago. Every couple of weeks, they pick up about 600 rolls from a mother and daughter who produce and package them in a 1,900-square foot warehouse in Glenns Ferry.

They immediately distribute rolls and pizza crusts to Wood River Valley stores, then stash a hundred or so in their home freezer. Edelbrock takes about 60 at a time out of their home freezer, delivering them on his cargo bike to replenish the stock.

“He loves making the deliveries,” said Howland. “We’re very athletic so he’s thrilled to make the deliveries without using gas.”

Howland and Edelbrock happily make the rolls a part of every evening meal. If there’s one or two left over, they stash it in the refrigerator, heating it up in the microwave and smearing it with peanut butter and jelly to eat as a snack the next day.

“Making deliveries is a really fun excuse to ride my bike,” said Edelbrock, “And people are always appreciative. If I can’t get them all in the cooler that I strap on the bike, I have a basket on the front to put the leftovers.”

Howland says the rolls are beautiful to look at, crusty outside and soft and chewy inside. They’re meant to be plopped in the oven straight out of the freezer.

“If anything, we dip them in a little olive oil,” she said.

These aren’t the only products Howland has in Atkinsons. She also has a line of vegan, organic, wheat-free granola lightly sweetened with Vermont maple syrup she calls Bungalow Munch

“I’ve made my own granola since I was 12 using a family recipe from the mountains of Vermont—before granola became such a big deal,” she said. “People ask how we have the time for all this. You do what you love, and you always have time for what you love.”