Pretzel Buns

We got pretty busy this past weekend and couldn't make any bread. Not a bad thing, we were busy enjoying the nice weather. We hung out as a family at Barnes & Noble and enjoyed some frozen yogurt at a frozen yogurt place in town. (My recent obsession) =)

Anyway, back to the topic hm? We wanted to make pretzel buns this time around. I love love pretzel buns. If I see pretzel buns as an option for a sandwich at a restaurant, I always choose it. Making these involved poaching the dough, which was the first time Tim & I have ever heard of doing for dough. (Again, we are novice bread makers!) =)

We followed Guy Fieri's recipe for Pretzel Buns.. but also read other pretzel bun recipes online for other options/ideas.

Pretzel Buns

adapted from Guy Fieri's recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
• Vegetable oil, for the bowl
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup baking soda
• 2 tablespoons of butter, melted (we added this)

Directions

Put 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F to 115 degrees F) in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside to bloom, 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture and mix with the dough hook (this was our first time using our dough hook attachment! Yay!) on the lowest setting until the dough comes together. Increase the speed to medium and continue to mix until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 8 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball, place in a large oiled (we used Olive Oil) bowl and turn the dough to coat it with oil. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, 30 to 35 minutes. (We turned on the oven to 350 for a few minutes, then turned it off and placed the dough in there to rest) Line a baking sheet with foil or a silicone baking mat, coat generously with cooking spray and set aside.

Punch down the dough, then turn out onto a floured surface. Knead just until the dough is smooth and springs back when poked, about 1 minute. Divide into 4 pieces and form into 5-by-3-inch oblong rolls. (We made circular buns because I thought they would look cuter) Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheet and cut four 2-inch diagonal slashes across the top of each. (This was fun to do for me for some reason) Cover with a damp towel or cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, 15 to 20 minutes. (We did the same thing as earlier and let it rest in a warm oven. Our oven preheats quickly, so I didn't do the next step right away) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and bring 8 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat.

Stir the baking soda into the boiling water (it will foam up slightly). Add 2 rolls and poach 2 minutes per side. (We think 1 minute of poaching on each side would probably be better) Using a slotted spoon, remove the rolls, drain (DEFINITELY do this! And pat with a paper towel. The last thing you want are soggy pretzel buns) and place on the baking sheet, cut-side up. We melted some butter and brushed some on the buns to give that shine after baking, to make them look more legitimate. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the remaining rolls.

Bake the rolls until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. (We baked the buns between 15-20 minutes because we like our bread crisper/browner) Let cool slightly on the baking sheet.

While the buns were baking, Tim fried up some of his famously delicious burgers. We have them frozen to make for dinners whenever we feel like having them. He made different kinds and he cooked up the bacon & cheddar burgers for this meal. He let them rest after cooking and then we set up our burgers for our very late meal (again). It was a really delicious meal and it was a pretty neat feeling to know we made everything from scratch - the burger and buns.