Much Impressed

Matt made pretzel rolls last night. Taste just like a pretzel, but shaped like a dinner roll. These really were impressive  He scored the top (cut slits in the raw dough) and I brushed them with egg whites and sprinkled with Kosher salt. It was such a nice effect – where he scored them, they stayed white and the salt turned a nice opaque white, leaving the rest of the roll this deep, gorgeous chestnut brown. I laughed for a long time when they came out of the oven saying, “They look just like the fake bread at Hobby Lobby!” I don’t know how many of you have seen those plastic rolls that people buy to make it look like they always have rolls on the table, but these just looked so much like that! We’ll see if you all agree. If anyone wants the recipe, I’ll go ahead and post it at the bottom. It’s not that hard….really. You can do this.

Pretzel Rolls

2 3/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp rapid rise yeast
1 tbs malted barley powder (found in the baking aisle)
1 tsp salt (+a dash more if you’re using Kosher)
1 cup hot water or milk
1 egg white

Knead in a mixer or by hand for about 5 minutes. Seems like a long time, but it needs to “develop” not just mix to combine. After the 5 min, form into a big ball and let rise in a greased container for 1 hour (cover container with some plastic wrap or a towel).
Punch down and form rolls (8) and let rise on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 min.
Bring 8 cups water + 1/4 cup baking soda + 2 tbs sugar to a boil in a large stock pot. Boil raw rolls 30 sec per side and place on a greased, cornmeal sprinkled baking pan (remove parchment). Brush each roll with egg white and sprinkle with either Kosher or sea salt. You don’t want to used iodized, super fine table salt. You want to be able to SEE the salt!
Score tops with a very sharp knife or razor blade. Don’t be afraid to make deep cuts – they will turn out beautiful!
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Serve with Dijon mustard or a Dijon/butter mixture.