Pretzel Roll Experiment

Back in the days when we dined out frequently, I would occasionally have a burger at Ruby Tuesdays that came on this totally awesome pretzel roll.  I looked online and found a recipe, and while it's not quite the same, it was verrrry tasty and chewy!  This is what my 2nd batch looked like.  The recipe was photographed from my first try.

And here are your Ingredients:

Ingredients:

3/4C Warm Water (110F)

1 1/4t Active Dry Yeast

1t Sugar*

2 1/4C Flour

1t Salt**

2T Unsalted Butter, Melted

1/4C Baking Soda

1 Egg, Beaten

Sea Salt***

First, put get your water the correct temperature.  I did this right
from the tap and tested it with a candy thermometer.
Add your yeast and your sugar to this.

Stir and let it sit about 5 minutes.  It will foam up and look like this...

Give it a good stir, then dump into the pan of your bread machine.

Add your flour, salt and melted butter.  Select the Dough setting

on your bread machine and hit Start. 

Wait for it to finish the cycle,

approximately an hour and a half.

When it's done, place your dough on a floured surface.

In my case, I use a flexible cutting board that I only 

use for vegetables.  Makes for easy clean up.

Pat into as round a shape as you can muster...

Using a pizza cutter, cut into six incredibly UNeven pieces!

Take each piece and fold it back behind itself, creating a little

ball.  You're basically pinching it in the back, kinda like a 

little dumpling from Kung Foo Panda.  :)   Funny, the picture

of my couch is much sharper than the dough ball!  Harumph!
I blame my husband...he took the picture!

This is what the backside of your dough ball will look like...pinchy, eh?

Finish the rest of your dough balls and place them on the parch

you used earlier in the day to make hot dog buns (opposite side, that is).

All the while noting that you have 2 small,

2 medium and 2 large dough balls. You're a genius!

Take a paper towel and wet it.  Squeeze out all the water you can
and cover your dough balls. Let them rise another 1/2 hour in a warm
spot.  I probably should have put a kitchen towel over this for more

warmth.  I keep turning the A/C warmer to save money, but

it still seems really cold in the house lately.  This is really odd, because

it got to 97 deg. here today.  And here I am baking!  Duh!

After they have risen, set 2 quarts of water to 'boilin.

Add in your 1/4C of baking soda now.  See all those little

white spots around the rim of my pot?  That baking soda

makes a nice little mess of everything that comes into 

contact with it.  Even my stove top had a nice little ring!

 

Using a slotted spoon, slowly and carefully lower your

dough ball into the boiling pit of death.  I sacrificed three 

at a time.  I was surprised at how they poofed up!

After a 30 seconds, flip them over.  You can safely do this by pushing

down on one edge of the dough ball with your spoon. 

Boil for another 30 seconds on the other side.

See how they got puffy and a little darker?

Remove your dough balls from the boiling water with your 

slotted spoon and place on a clean kitchen towel.

I patted the tops off, too.

Space your rolls evenly on your (recycled) parch-lined baking sheet.

Brush the tops with the beaten egg.

 Using a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut an X in the center of each.

By the way, can you tell which rolls I accidentally got too 

aggressive with while patting dry?  Heh-heh.
They still baked up like the other non-beaten-into-submission ones.

Sprinkle each roll with a little Sea Salt.  

I used a cheapo little salt grinder I got at Aldi's for 99c!

Place in a preheated 425F oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

These get really dark brown just like a pretzel.  And boy, does

that recycled parch sure take a beating!  Looks like someone
got murdered! But it works great!

My theory is, if it doesn't go up in flames, I'll reuse it!

(Wellllll, I wouldn't use it from a day/week/month before, but from the
same day, sure!  Why not?  It is the other side.  Don't be judgy!)

Update:  Here's what my second batch looked like.  I used the kitchen
scissors to cut the X and they came out much nicer looking. 
The one on the left is how they will look if you do not boil them.
The one on the right has been boiled and I prefer the texture much more.

Here's what a yummy chicken salad sandwich looks like with these!
It was soooo awesome!  I liked that I could pull the extra dough out
of the center of the roll and had a little shell to tuck the salad into!

Notes and What I learned:

*Sugar...I felt it could use some more sugar.  Next time, I'll probably add 2t to 1T of sugar because I like things sweet, like me.  Ah-hem.

**Table Salt...I know these are pretzel rolls, so I shouldn't complain, but I just found these to be too salty.  Next time, I'd probably put 1/4t salt in maximum.

***Sea Salt...IF you are making these as a smaller appetizer, I would encourage you to use the Sea Salt on top.  If you want to make dinner rolls or hamburger buns, I would say leave it off.  That just took the saltiness to a whole other level that I didn't care for...and I used the sea salt very sparingly.

While these look burned, they're actually not.  They do have a nice chewy texture and the bottom is crispy.  My son ate one right away as a snack.  He's a pretzel-lovin' fool if there ever was one!

I'm assuming my little X's didn't open up all purty like the top picture because
a) it was too cold in my house for the rolls to rise properly and
b) because all of my stupid knives are dull, darn it all to helicopter!
I used the kitchen scissors the next time and they came out lovely.

These are VERY economical to make.  The whole batch of six only cost $1.01 to make.
That makes them under .17c per roll!  You could never buy rolls that cheap anywhere...
not even Aldi's!  And I LOVE me some Aldi's, people!

These were VERY easy to make, too.  I thought at first I wouldn't like them as a roll because they were just too much like a big pretzel, but once I had a hamburger and some chicken salad (not at the same time, lol), they were awesome!!!  I pan fried the burger and seasoned as usual.  I chopped and browned an onion and dump a huge pile of it on top, then put a slice of Meunster cheese and a glob of ketchup.  I can truly say this was one of the best burgers I've ever had and it was so easy.  The roll had so much to do with that.  I couldn't wait to make another batch.  I did leave the salt off the top the 2nd time.  Just didn't need it.  The texture is what I love the best!

If you make these, let me know how yours turned out!

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