Pretzel Bread Rolls (or Bowls)

These pretzel bread rolls (or bowls) are surprisingly easy to make considering how awesome they look and taste. The recipe is adapted from A Beautiful Mess's recipe. The idea came to me after making the Post Punk Kitchen's delicious Tempeh Chili con Frijoles. Bread bowls add a decadent touch to any soup or chili, and making them yourself is not nearly as much work as I think some people might imagine. After making the bowls a couple times I decided to try adapting the recipe to make rolls, and I must admit I was not disappointed with the results. You can also use this recipe to make old-fashioned straight-up soft pretzels by rolling the dough into snakes and twisting into pretzel shapes.

Ingredients:
-3 Tbs Earth Balance (or vegan butter of your choice)
-2 C hot water
-1 Tbs brown sugar
-2 ¼ tsp yeast
-4 C all purpose flour
-2 C white wheat flour
-2 tsp salt
-8 to 10 C water
-⅓ C baking soda
-2 Tbs melted Earth Balance (or vegan butter of your choice)
-2 Tbs coarse grain salt

To make:
1. In the bowl of your standing mixer (or a large bowl), dissolve the butter and sugar in the 2 C hot water and stir well until butter is completely melted. Sprinkle yeast over the top and proof 5-6 minutes, until frothy and foamy.

Proofed yeast, so frothy and foamy.

2. If using a standing mixer, you'll want to use your bread hook attachment. Stir in the all purpose flour and 2 tsp salt. Scrape down the sides and mix in the white wheat flour until it forms a ball. Knead about 4 to 5 minutes (or run at medium- medium low in your standing mixer) until you have a firm, elastic dough. Turn onto a floured surface and form a ball. Lightly grease the bowl and replace the dough ball and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise for about an hour, or until roughly doubled in size.


3. Punch down and turn onto a floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces for bowls, or 16 for rolls. Keep in mind that they are going to rise again and expand when baking, so if you want, you can divide into even smaller pieces. For rolls (or straight-up pretzels) I usually make between 16 and 20. Also for rolls, you want to press them quite flat, because when they expand you don't want them to turn into spheres, which ironically is exactly what you want them to do for bowls. Place on a parchment-paper covered baking sheet, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise another 20 min.

4. While the rolls/bowls are rising, preheat your oven to 400 F. Put the 8-10 cups water in a big pot or sauce pan and bring to a low boil. Add the baking soda, this part is awesome because the water gets incredibly fizzy and you think it's going to overflow but then it calms back down just as suddenly as it went crazy. Once the rolls/bowls are done rising, gently place them in the boiling water for 45 seconds to a minute, flipping half way through, then place back on the baking sheet with a slotted spoon. Cut an "X" in the top of each roll/bowl with a sharp knife, then brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt.

5. Once every roll/bowl is so buttered and salted, bake for 15-18 minutes, until very brown. Serve or store!