Shedding Light not heat

I’m always on the hunt for a good German bread recipe. If you’ve had the chance to visit Germany, you know there are many types of breads and what feels like 99 kinds of rolls. While I’ve tried to make Roggenbrötchen and Kurbiskern, the one I excel the most at is Laugenbrötchen or pretzel rolls.

Pretzel Rolls

I modified this from David Leite’s recipe. I added a little bit of brown sugar to get that malty flavor and baked the baking soda for a more burnished crust. Take a look at the original recipe for imperial measurements and nutrition details.

Ingredients

• 500 g white spelt flour or unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for working the dough
• 7g fast-acting yeast
• 1.5 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 300 ml water, lukewarm (about 110°F or 43°C)
• 42 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 liter cold water
• 54 g baked baking soda *
• Coarse sea salt

Directions

Make the Dough

• Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook. In the bowl of your mixer combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
• In a separate bowl, combine 300 ml warm water and the butter. The mixture should be lukewarm.
• Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and mix until well combined, about 2 minutes. The dough shouldn’t be sticky.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and continue kneading and punching it down until you have a smooth and elastic ball of dough, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place (preferably in a 100°F (35°C) warm oven) until double in size, about 60 minutes.

Shape the pretzel rolls

• When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, take it out of the bowl, and knead it for about 30 seconds.
• Divide the dough into 10 equal portions, roughly 85 grams each. If you want larger buns, you can divide it into 8 portions, roughly 105 grams each.
• Dust your hands with flour, place a portion of dough on the flat palm of one hand, and with the other hand forming a dome over the dough. Roll the dough between your palms until the top is round and firm and you can feel the tension increasing against your hand, about 10 seconds. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Cover the rolls with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until puffy, about 20 minutes.

Boil the pretzel rolls

• Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large pot wide enough to fit 2 rolls at once, bring a liter of cold water and the baking soda to a boil. The baking soda will foam, so keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over.
• With a slotted ladle or spoon, gently slip 2 rolls into the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds. Flip them and cook for another 30 seconds, being careful to not let them stick to the bottom of the pot. Transfer the rolls to a wire rack to dry and repeat with the remaining rolls.
• Once dry, transfer them to the parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake the pretzel rolls

• Use the tip of a sharp knife to score a cross on top of each roll and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake the pretzel rolls, 1 sheet at a time, until golden brown, about 16 minutes.
• Transfer the rolls to a wire rack to cool slightly. I recommend eating them while they are still warm with a bit of cold, unsalted butter.

* On the baked baking soda: The weight of your baking soda will decrease by about half. The 54g is post-baking weight, so bake more than you expect!