Pretzel rolls

The day I got back from Idaho, I came home to this beauty:

I have been wanting this since before we got married! Ethan called it my "push" gift and my Mother's Day gift. I always joked about getting a push gift, but I was never serious about it, but I'll take it!

What do you do when you have a beauty like this staring at you everyday? You bake! And that's definitely what I've been doing. I have definitely put this thing to good use already, and I'm planning on even more use out of it!

So far, I've made chicken crescent rolls, hot dog diggities (it's a family thing, it's basically pigs in a blanket), zucchini bread, garlic breadsticks, Oreo truffles, and my most recent endeavor, pretzel rolls. Well, I've actually made the pretzel rolls a few times, but I finally got a recipe I love and the size that I like. I thought I'd share the recipe! See the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 1/3 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
• 2 tbsp warm milk
• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp white sugar

Parboiling:

• 2 quarts water
• 1/2 cup baking soda

Topping:

• 1 large egg (scramble in small bowl and set aside)
• 1/4 cup kosher salt

Directions:

1.  In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix a 1/3 cup of warm water (105-115 degrees F) with the yeast and let stand until bloomed (foamy).

2.  Add the remaining cup of warm water along with milk, sugar, & melted butter and swirl to dissolve the sugar.

3.  Add flour & sugar. (My sister taught me to put about half the amount of flour in, and then add in a 1/2 C at a time. Your dough should still be slightly sticky to the touch, but not so much that it completely sticks to your fingers)

4.  Fit your mixer with your dough hook.

5.  Mix on med-low speed until dough forms a nice pliable dough ball.

6.  Flour surface (lightly) and turn dough out onto.  Knead for 2 minutes. (Spraying your hands with oil or putting butter on your hands helps the dough from sticking to you)

7.  Roll into a long log and cut into 16 even pieces for smaller rolls, or 8 even pieces for larger rolls. 

8.  Form dough into either simple rolls (place a small cross cut in tops of simple rolls), or pretzel shaped rolls. (I do mine as pretzel shaped rolls by tying in in a loop if that makes sense. I basically do the first loop of a knot.)

9.  Cover dough with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let pretzels rest for about 30-40mins. I tend to raise mine slightly longer. 

10.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

11.  Spray baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.

12.  In a large stockpot, bring the cold water to a boil, remove from heat, and add baking soda.  (Do not add baking soda while over heat...it will boil over)  You can then return to heat.

13.  Drop two rolls into the boiling water and boil for no more than 30 seconds, turning once.

14.  Carefully remove with slotted spoon and hold above pot and let drain.
15.  Brush on egg over each roll.  

16.  Sprinkle lightly with Kosher Salt.  Repeat with remaining rolls.

17.  Arrange rolls on baking sheets and bake on the upper and middle racks of the oven for about 15-20 mins or until browned all over.  Be sure to switch pans during baking every 5 mins for a more even baking experience.

These rolls are amazing!! You can eat them just as rolls, or turn them into a meal and put chicken salad inside of them, or burgers–whatever your little heart desires! These are definitely going to become a staple in our house!