Laugen Brotchen (Bretzel Rolls)

DH told me the other day about an amazing bread he had while he was in Germany ( many, many moons ago). Granted, all bread in Germany is amazing -- but he knew a specific bread. He told me it tasted like a pretzel, but was the consistency of a bread roll.

We live in "Pennsylvania Dutch" territory, so my automatic response was "Oh, a pretzel roll." But no -- DH said this was fluffier, thicker than the standard pretzel roll seen in Central Pennsylvania for sandwiches and such. (And he's right -- this definately has a lot more "bread-like" quality to it than the standard pretzel roll)

A few minutes on the internet with my (incredibly broken/picked-up-from-DH) German, I discovered several recipes for Laugen Brotchen -- or Bretzel Rolls.

I chose this recipe arbitrarily -- they were all pretty similar. These rolls are DELICIOUS. If you're more creative than I, you can form them into little pretzel shapes before baking. I just scored the top of mine with an "X" and popped them in the oven. DH tells me the best way to eat these is warm, with lots of REAL butter....but I also think it would be amazing with some ham and cheese tucked in there and warmed. Or any meat and cheese, quite frankly! MMM!

Laugen Brotchen/ Bretzel Rolls/ Pretzel Rolls

(Original Found at Recipezaar)

Makes 12 rolls

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tablespoons warm milk

2 1/2 teaspoons (approximately 1 small package) active dry yeast

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

4 cups all-purpose flour

kosher salt or pretzel salt

2 quarts (~ 8 cups) cold water

1/2 cup baking soda

Directions

- In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix 1/3 cup of the warm (105-115 degrees) water with the yeast and let stand until foamy (about 2-3 minutes for me)

- Add the remaining cup of warm water, the warm milk, melted butter, and brown sugar and mix to dissolve the sugar

- Attach your dough hook to your stand mixer, and slowly add the 4 cups of flour until combined. Continue using your dough hook to mix the dough until it forms a nice, firm dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl

- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 2 minutes. Roll into a 2-foot long log and cut into 12 even pieces

- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and a damp cloth and let sit for 10 minutes (this step didn't say if i should wrap each piece individually, or lay the plastic over all of them, or what. i laid the plastic over all of them, then the damp towel, and it worked fine)

- Pat dough into rolls, or form pretzel knows and arrange on a lightly floured surface, about an inch apart, and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for an additional 30 minutes (again -- i just laid some oiled plastic wrap over the lot of them, and let them do their thing. they were fine)

- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly oil 2 baking sheets

- In a large stockpot, bring the cold water to a rolling boil and add the baking soda

- Drop the rolls -- one or two at a time -- into the boiling water and boil for no more than 30 seconds, turning them over once. Carefully remove with tongs, spatula, or slotted spoon and hold above the pot to let drain

- Deposit boiled rolls into the greased baking sheet (6 per sheet) and sprinkle lightly with pretzel or kosher salt. Repeat with the remaining rolls

- Bake the rolls on the upper and middle racks of the oven for 8-10 minutes until brown all over -- if necessary, shift pans from top to bottom and back to front halfway through, for even baking (I baked mine 1 baking sheet at a time to ensure consistency of color and cooking. I also turned the pan around halfway through. Mine also baked for 9 minutes)

- Let the rolls cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack

- Serve warm, or at room temperature

Notes

- I think these would make amazing sandwiches. I think I'd just split the top, tuck my sandwich ingredients in it like a pocket, and warm them in the oven -- mmm!!!

- The hubby says these aren't quite what he had in mind -- he remembers them being denser, darker, and crustier. Having done a little more reading since I made them, I think this comes from the tendency of German bakers to use rye and wheat flours, rather than enriched, bleached flours. Perhaps next time I will experiment with a more whole grain flour and see where it takes me.

Edit: I've entered this recipe in Joelen's Culinary Adventures blog event -- Oktoberfest!

Soft Pretzels -- Part Deux

My other pretzel recipe was Alton Brown's -- and it was really good. But this recipe is a bit quicker to make, it had brown sugar (which I hoped meant a sweeter pretzel), and it gets raves on the cooking message board I frequent.

Plus, DH wants pretzels. All. The. Time. :-)

While I don't think it was much sweeter than Alton's, I do think it was quite tasty. I'd make either one, but I think I prefer this one because it has a slightly less "yeasty" flavor.

The only thing I added to Amber's recipe was a light egg wash before baking the pretzels, so they'd come out nice and dark brown and a bit crisp on top.

Pretzels (Part Deux)
(Original recipe from Amber)

(Amber says this makes 20 pretzels -- I only got 10 out of it!)

1/8 cup hot water
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
Coarse kosher salt
Baking soda
Butter or shortening (to grease cookie sheets)
Vegetable oil (to grease counter)
1 egg, beaten + 1 tbsp water (to brush the pretzels with before baking)

Directions
- In a large bowl, mix together 1/8 cup hot water and 1 package active dry yeast until the yeast dissolves.
- Stir in the 1 1/3 cup warm water and 1/3 cup brown sugar and continue stirring until the brown sugar dissolves.
- Slowly add 4 cups of flour, stirring constantly (I used my Kitchenaid mixer and the kneading attachment for this -- worked great)
- Continue stirring the mixture until it is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl

To continue by hand: flour the counter lightly, and flour your hands. Knead the dough until it is stretchy and smooth (push it down and away from you with the palms of your hands, turning the dough as you work)

To continue using your mixer and kneading attachment: continue kneading your dough at speed 2 until the dough appears stretchy and smooth (about 3-4 minutes for me)

- Lightly oil your counter (Amber says to flour your counter -- Alton said to oil. I find the oil allows you to roll the pretzel more easily, so I used that)
-Grease your cookie sheets (I used 2) generously with butter or shortening. It is very important that you grease the cookie sheets well!
- Sprinkle greased cookie sheets with kosher salt.
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees Farenheit.
-Using a liquid measuring cup, fill a large saucepan at least 1/2 full of water. For each 1 cup of water you add, add 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
- Divide the dough into 4 even pieces, and shape them like a pretzel (You can also make pretzel sticks -- Roll out 2-3" long ropes of dough and leave as is)
- Bring the water and baking soda in the saucepan to a gentle boil.
- Using a pancake turner, or a large spatula, gently lower each pretzel into the water one-by-one -- counting slowly to 30 before removing the pretzel from the water and placing it on the cookie sheet.
- Repeat until all pretzels are done.
- When all pretzels have been boiled, lightly brush each pretzel with the egg+1 tbsp water mixture, then sprinkle with more kosher salt.
- Bake for 8 minutes, or until the pretzels are golden.

Variation
- I baked half my pretzels with no salt, and when they came out of the oven, dipped them in melted butter and cinnamon-sugar mixture to make cinnamon sugar pretzels. YUM!

Oh, and P.S. -- there are no pictures with this -- they looked exactly like my other pretzel recipe. Trust me :-)

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I have two soft pretzel recipes I'd like to experiment with. This is the first.

This is Alton Brown's recipe...and while I normally think his recipes are divine (even if he is a bit neurotic) this one is just "okay" in my eyes. DH agrees and says it's amazing.

The key, I think, is I like a sweeter pretzel dough. This one is more yeasty, than sweet -- and I think it's because this recipe calls for white sugar. My other pretzel recipe calls for brown -- hopefully I can post it soon and update you on the sweetness of the dough!




Homemade Soft Pretzels
(Original by Alton Brown)
Makes 8 Pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all purpose flour -- about 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
pretzel salt (can use kosher salt!)

Directions
- Combine water, sugar, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast on top and allow to sit for 5 minutes, or until the mixture begins to foam.
- Add the flour and butter, and, using the dough hook attachment on your mixer, mix on low speed until well combined.
- Change to medium speed and knead the dough with the dough hook until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl (approximately 4 to 5 minutes).
- Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil.
- Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and sit in a warm place for approximately 50-55 minutes, or until dough has doubled in size.

- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line 2 sheet pants with parchment paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil. Set aside.

- Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

- In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a 24-inch long rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, and cross them over each other. Press into the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel.
- Place onto parchment-lined sheet pan.

- Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large, flat spatula. Return to the sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg and water mixture and sprinkle with pretzel salt (I left salt off half my pretzels and made them cinnamon-sugar ones once they had baked)

- Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes.
- Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.