[Recipe] "Stay With Me" Pretzel Rolls

Soft pretzels are German.  Right?  But somehow I tend to associate them, especially in their soft bun variety, with America.  Maybe it's because I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country, which, according to this entry on the history of pretzels, was/is the epicenter of American pretzels.  Or maybe it's because I can't remember what I think of as quintessentially "American" things like baseball and football games or amusement parks without a soft pretzel in one hand and a soda in the other.

American or German, soft pretzels are an amazing comfort food.  In roll form, they're even more so.  Their texture changes, and the rolls are more pillow-y and can be almost-but-not-quite like a croissant.  The granules of salt (speaking of which, I really need to figure out where I can buy those thick granules of pretzel salt for my own purposes) satisfy every guilty salt craving I've ever had.   They're actually addictive.

I'm fond of this recipe, courtesy of Codychop of Food.com.  The following recipe yields 12 rolls, so double or triple accordingly for your needs.

"Stay With Me" Pretzel Rolls
a recipe by Codychop (Food.com)

The original inspiration for these was actually a vision of pretzel roll croutons as a topping for my Oktoberfest Mac, but I obviously "overbaked" on purpose so we'd have extra for our dinner guests and ourselves to snack on.  They proved perfect both plain and with a side of honey mustard.  KiKi and I had originally planned to improvise a recipe for honey mustard butter, but we were a little overambitious with our cooking schedule, so that experiment will have to happen at a later date.

My friends Vonnie and Apollo were the first to try these rolls.  We had made a quick pitstop at my apartment Saturday night for a change of clothes (me), a drink (everyone), and, of course, the pretzel rolls.

They impressed my friends.  We really couldn't stop eating them.  In fact, they were so addictive that my friend Vonnie's advice to me upon tasting them was, "You've got to feed these to Henri (a Frenchman, if it's not obvious).  They say 'stay with me' better than anything else.  One taste, and he'll never want to leave America."

For the curious, my pretzel rolls, while tasty, are not quite good enough to keep someone from ever going home.  But they're certainly good enough for another, and another, and another... 

Ingredients
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon yeast
6 cups water
3 tablespoons baking soda
1 egg white
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions
1.  Mix together brown sugar, salt, and yeast in a big bowl.
2.  Mix together oil and water.  Add to the sugar and yeast mixture.
3.  Add the flour and mix to a nice doughy (not sticky) consistency.  Knead with mixer for a few minutes.
4.  Divide dough into 12 balls and shape into rolls and let rise on greased foil cover sheet for 20–30 minutes, until nice and puffy.  Codychop recommends raising in a warmed oven-- preheated to the lowest setting, then turned off, at which point the dough can be put in to rise.

5.  While the dough is rising, bring water and baking soda to a simmer in a wide pan with straight sides.
6.  Once dough has finished rising, remove from the warmed oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place 4 rolls in the water and simmer 1 minute, than flip and simmer for an additional minute.  Drain and place the rolls on a cookie sheet.  Repeat with the remaining rolls.

7.  Brush rolls with egg white and sprinkle generously with kosher salt.  Slash decoratively with a sharp blade.

8.  Bake until "pretzel" brown, about 12–15 minutes.