Bretzel Rolls

In addition to making the picnic wraps last weekend, I decided to get back to my bread roots and make some rolls. I must have had A Passion for Baking laying around somewhere because the idea to make Bretzel Rolls popped up and I decided to roll with it. Wow, pun seriously not intended there. That started a real craving for pretzels and mustard (missing baseball season, anyone?!) so I got moving pretty quick! Anyway, Bretzel rolls are rolls that are supposed to be pretzel like yet tend more to the bread side. I checked out Rose's recipe but hers requires lye which I don't have so I went with Marcy's baking soda bath. What I felt really made this recipe was the topping of salt and garlic powder- yum! And it went deliciously well with mustard. I must say that the baking soda bath wasn't intense enough and these didn't have that coveted pretzel flavor. Truth be told, though, I've come to terms with the fact that no matter how good the recipe, pretzels without lye will not taste like authentic pretzels. That said, it's still fun to shape and boil bread and the resulting breads are delicious, if not the real deal.

Bretzel Rolls
from A Passion for Baking

Dough:
1 cup warm water
1 3/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2-3 cups bread flour, or more to get a stiff dough

Kettle Water:
5 quarts water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Finishing touches:
coarse salt
garlic powder

Combine all of the dough ingredients in the bowl of your mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead on lowest speed of mixer for 8-10 minutes, adding enough flour as necessary to get a stiff dough. Grease the dough and cover with a plastic bag. Let rise for 40 minutes.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and gently deflate. Scale into eight equal pieces. Shape into ropes and form into pretzel shapes. Place on silicone mats on baking sheets. Cover and let rise about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425. Bring water to a boil and add the baking soda, salt and sugar. Drop in breads a few at a time, turning once for a total of 20 seconds per side. Using a slotted spoon remove and place on baking sheets. Top with garlic powder and salt.

Bake until browned about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet.