Pretzel Rolls

I love soft pretzels, with salt, with cinnamon and sugar, dipped in cheese sauce, it doesnt matter, I love them. So naturally, pretzel bread seemed genious. Any time that I'm at a restaurant that serves a sandwich on pretzel rolls, I always order it. Definitely one of my favorite things.

After experimenting with a couple other yeast recipes, I found this recipe at Big City Cooking and decided to make the rolls for our tailgate last night. I baked them on Thursday night and they were fine for Friday afternoon but I do think they are best served warm.

The recipe makes 8 hamburger bun-sized rolls and was very easy.

2 3/4 cups bread flour

1 envelope rapid-rise yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 cup and 2 T hot water (approx 120 degrees)

Combine all ingredients except water in bowl of a mixer, slowly stream in water until dough comes together to form a smooth, elastic dough. Knead for approx. 1 minute and transfer to a greased bowl. Turn dough once to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise approx. 30-45 minutes until doubled in size. Turn dough out onto a floured work space and knead until smooth and no longer sticky. Divide into 8 peices and roll into balls. Place balls on a floured surface and cut an "X" into the top of each roll with a serrated knife. Cover and let rise 20 minutes.

8 cups water

1/4 baking soda

2 T sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking pan and dust with cornmeal. Heat water over high heat in a large saucepan, when boiling add baking soda and sugar, the water will foam up. Add rolls in batches of 2-4, cooking 30 seconds per side. Transfer rolls to prepared pan with slotted spoon, "X" side up.

1 egg white, beaten

Course salt

Brush the tops of all rolls with egg white and sprinkle with salt. Bake approx 25-30 minutes until golden brown.