Pretzel Rolls

Its been awhile... Life got busy. Hopefully I'm back a little bit regularly now. I am, however, back with a goodie. This one is a keeper. They are best day of, obviously, but they made great sandwich bread all week long.

They are so good even my super picky "I only eat real pretzels from Germany" husband asked me to make them again.

A word of advice, if you can find either non-diastatic malt powder (replaces the sugar) or malted barley flour use them, as I think they will help yield even closer results to the store bought version. I couldn't find either.... without ordering online and I refused to wait that long.

Me want pretzel rolls.

Pretzel Rolls

Yields 12 sandwich sized rolls

Ingredients:

4 cups flour

1 cup warm water

1/2 cup hot water

1 package active dry yeast

1 tablespoons sugar, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

8 cups water

2 tablespoons baking soda

1 egg white

salt for sprinkling

Directions:

Stir in 1/2 tablespoon of sugar into 1 cup of warm water and sprinkle package of yeast evenly over top. Stir around lightly and set aside for about 5 minutes to allow yeast to bloom.

In the meantime, stir together flour, other 1/2 tablespoon sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in bloomed yeast and hot water. Stir everything together until a sticky dough forms. Turn dough onto generously floured countertop.

Knead until a smooth, but still semi-sticky dough forms. Place into a clean bowl and cover with a damp towel. Set aside for about 45 minutes to an hour or until double in size.

Line a cookie sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper and set aside. Turn dough back onto lightly floured surface and cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Cut each of those 4 pieces into thirds making 12 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a smooth ball and place on lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Place a towel over sheet and set aside for 20 more minutes.

While those are resting, froth egg white and preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat the 8 cups of water in a large non-reactive pan to a boil. Once it starts to boil stir in two tablespoons of baking soda. Place rolls 1 at a time (or no more than 3) and cook for about 1 minute on each side. Using a slotted spatula take rolls out of water and put back in their places on the baking sheet.

Once all rolls are back on baking sheet brush the tops with egg white and sprinkle with salt. Use a sharp knife to cut a shallow "+" sign into top of each roll.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 25-40 minutes depending on how deep brown you want the rolls to be. Set on a cooling rack and allow to cool. Store in a airtight container for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Enjoy :)

Step-by-step in pics:

Mix everything together

Knead into a ball

Allow to double in size

Roll into mini balls and allow to rest for a bit

Boil in a baking soda/water bath

Place back on pan

Bake them up to preferred darkness

Baked Banana Bread French Toast

Now that you have the recipe for my banana bread you can make baked banana bread french toast! At first Mark was iffy about using banana bread as the base, but after one bite he became a believer.

Getting my bread sliced

Ready for the oven

Time to dig in

This was a great breakfast: a comfort dish without being too hard on the body.

And that banana bread? Gets better and better every time I take a bite.

Baked Banana Bread French Toast

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

4 slices banana bread

1 egg + 1 egg white

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

dash of salt

Directions:

The night before, leave the bread out to get stale.

The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a bowl big enough to hold everything mix together eggs & egg whites, milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt.

Break apart banana bread into bite size pieces and submerge in egg mixture; set aside.

In a small dish melt butter and mix in brown sugar.

Spray two 1-cup ramekins with cooking spray.

Pour banana bread batter evenly into ramekins and pour brown sugar mixture on top.

Place in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot with toppings of choice.

Enjoy :)