Colonial Williamsburg and Pretzel Rolls

Simeon and I took off for a few days and visited some friends in Va. While we were there, we took advantage of Colonial Williamsburg's homeschool days. We had a blast, learned tons and I definitely want to go back. One of the highlights for Simeon was the bakery. What's not to love about fresh baked goods. His favorite treat was the pretzel rolls. I came home determined to figure out how to make my own. The result was delicious. Once cooled they tasted just like the ones we bought at the bakery. The only change I would make is to make the rolls smaller. The recipe recommended 4 oz rolls. I made 3 ounce rolls, and I would make them even smaller, possibly as small as 1.5 oz each.



Pretzel Rolls
The Dough
2 and 3/8 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 cups milk, slightly warmed

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

The "Bath"
7 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
4 tablespoons baking soda

Mix all dough ingredients together in a stand mixer. Mix with paddle attachment until it forms a ball and then mix with dough hook. I found that I had to add flour until my dough came together, was no longer sticky and quite stiff. I added maybe another 3/8 of a cup, but I can't be sure. I did it gradually until the dough looked right. Let dough rise in mixer bowl, covered with plastic wrap for an hour in a warm place.

After the first rising, punch down dough and shape into balls. Place rolls onto well greased cookie sheet and let rise 15 minutes.Preheat oven to 400*F.

While rolls are rising, mix the "bath" ingredients together and bring to a rolling boil. Once the 15 minute rise is over, poach 3 rolls at a time for 1 minute. I flipped my rolls over after the initial 3o seconds. Place on greased cookie sheet.

Once all rolls were poacheed, I used a serrated knife to make two slashes in each roll and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake in the oven until a deep dark brown. It took my rolls 20 minutes. It may be a little more or less time. Keep an eye on the rolls, burnt pretzels would be so sad.

Enjoy!