Pretzel Rolls

Unfortunately I do not remember where I first had a pretzel roll but I do remember instantly loving them. When given the choice of different breads at restaurants I will always pick a pretzel roll over the other choices.  Let me first say that I love salt.. for years I would salt all of my food before tasting it as I was convinced that everything needed more salt.  Once I met Mr.K he convinced me to try foods without salting first and I must say I am much better now.  Pretzel rolls combine two of my favorite things.. bread and salt.  I was recently in the grocery store and came across Thomas' Mini Pretzel Bagels and I could not resist so I bought them. 

They are very good but not like real pretzel rolls.  After a lot of research I came across this link and decided to try the recipe myself.  I have only made yeast based bread once in my life.  My adventure started badly.. the yeast did not foam (assuming the water was too cold).  Fortunately the second yeast did foam and I was off.  The dough came together quickly and after an hour of rising the dough was ready to be formed into rolls.  I read the directions on the original recipe and realized it was very similar to rolling pizza dough balls (luckily my family has owned a pizza restaurant for my entire life so I have lot of experience with pizza dough).  Sure enough a few minutes later I had 16 perfectly shaped rolls. 

After proofing, boiling, egg-washing, salting and cutting a slash they were in the oven.  Fifteen minutes later and they were done.  Even Mr.K was impressed with how nice they looked... and tasted.  We both ate 2 that night and froze half of them as they do not have a long shelf life.  I defrosted a few in the microwave and toasted them for a delicious breakfast.

Enjoy!!