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There are few things better than warm-from-the-oven Pretzel Rolls brushed with butter and sprinkled with coarse salt. These Pretzel Rolls are easy to make and divine when served with even more butter.
This post is sponsored by Fleischmann’s® Yeast as part of the Bake It Yourself Blogger Program. Thank you for continuing to support the brands that make My Baking Addiction possible.
Eric and I go through phases with going out to eat and honestly, so does Elle.
She’s very much into eating at home right now which I totally get because waiting 30 minutes for a corn dog at a restaurant can seem like an eternity to a 4-year-old. But she’ll happily wait hours for me to roast a chicken, or make homemade spaghetti sauce.
She’s turning into a home body just like her mama, and I kinda love it.
We have a few spots around town that we head to because we know we’ll get a great meal with awesome service.
We have a short list of places for tacos and guac, burgers, pizza and of course, steaks.
My personal favorite is the steakhouse because they serve the most delicious pretzel rolls that are slathered in butter and served with 2 additional sides of butter. I mean, how could that ever be a bad thing.
Add a bowl of their lobster bisque and I’m in heaven. Seriously, I don’t even need the steak.
We’re a soft pretzel loving family, so if they’re on the menu, we’re going to order them almost every time. But this place serves soft pretzel rolls as their bread course and they’re all kinds of amazing.
PRETZEL ROLL RECIPE
When my friends at Fleischmann’s asked me to recreate their Pretzel Bread recipe, I couldn’t help but immediately think of the pretzel rolls at our local steakhouse. It was pretty much a no-brainer to turn this recipe into rolls, brush them with melted butter and top them with a sprinkling of pretzel salt.
Of course, you can always use this Pretzel Roll recipe to make pretzel bread. If you want to go that route, simply shape the dough into two equal loaves and proceed as written from there.
Personally, I’m going to stick with Pretzel Rolls because the serving options are pretty endless.
Serving them warm with cinnamon butter is my personal favorite, but you could also serve them with beer cheese dip, or pepper jelly alongside chili, or even slice them in half and use them as buns for your favorite burger. I think they’d be awesome with my Easy Crockpot Pulled Pork or BBQ Beef.
HOW TO MAKE PRETZEL ROLLS
Making pretzels at home seems really intimidating because of the whole baking-soda-bath situation, but I promise they are actually way easier to make than you think.
This Pretzel Roll recipe starts with a pretty easy yeast dough. We already know and love using Fleischmann’s® RapidRise® Yeast since we can add it right to the dry ingredients without dissolving it first, so it’s perfect for keeping things simple here.
After a bit of kneading, let the dough rise for an hour. This is the only time the dough has to rise (thanks again to Fleischmann’s® Yeast RapidRise®), so Pretzel Rolls are something you can make on the fly without a lot of time on your hands.
Once the risen dough is shaped into 8 rolls, we have to give them a dip in a baking soda bath.If you’ve never made pretzels or bagels before, you might be wondering why this step is necessary.
There’s a lot of science and chemistry involved, but the pH level of the baking soda bath changes the way the Pretzel Rolls brown in the oven and the chewiness of the crust. Basically, if you skip this step, you’re just making plain rolls, which may still taste good, but they won’t be Pretzel Rolls!
After their dip, the rolls go onto a greased baking sheet and get a little egg wash before heading into the oven.
Once baked, I like to brush my Pretzel Rolls with melted butter and sprinkle them with pretzel salt or coarse sea salt. And of course, serve them with cinnamon butter, just like our local steakhouse.
However you like to serve them, I know you’ll love Pretzel Rolls as much as we do.
Pretzel Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter OR margarine
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast 1 envelope
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 to 3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 quarts water
- ¾ cup baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- pretzel salt or kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat milk and butter until warm (120° to 130°F); the butter will not completely melt. Combine with undissolved yeast and brown sugar in a large mixer bowl. Stir in salt and 2 cups flour, beat for 3 minutes. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
- Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
- Combine water and baking soda and bring to a boil.
- Punch dough down and divide dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a tight, smooth ball.
- Boil each roll in the solution for 2 minutes, turning after 1 minute. Remove rolls from pot using a slotted spoon and place on prepared baking sheet.
- Brush with egg wash and cut a cross in the top.
- Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake an additional 10 to 12 minutes until the rolls are evenly browned. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
- Before serving, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with pretzel salt.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
By any chance, would you know if it’s possible to make these pretzel rolls with whole wheat flour? Would I need to tinker with the liquid amount? I realize they might taste a bit different but for health reasons I can only enjoy a small amount of bread products if they’re made with whole wheat. I understand if you haven’t tried it to be able to answer. Doesn’t hurt to ask, right? Thanks! These look fantastic.
Hello! I haven’t attempted this recipe with this substitution, so I am not sure of the result. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how they turned out. Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
I attempted to make these last night and my dough did not rise. I know my yeast was new so I am wondering if maybe I overheated the milk and killed the yeast?
Hello! That is very possible, and an easy mistake to make. I hope you’ll try them again!
Jamie
Finally made these and they were a huge success. Love the blog
So happy to hear you enjoyed the rolls, Daniel! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie
Hi Jamie,
Help me out. This recipe calls for 3-3-1/2 cups flour but instructions call for 2 cups (more if needed). Should I begin with 2 and add 1 & 1/2 cups more if necessary. Seems like a big difference.
Beth
Hello! Per the instructions: “Stir in salt and 2 cups flour, beat for 3 minutes. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.” Depending on the weather, you may need an additional cup, but may need more or less. Simply gauge by how the dough looks and feels. Hope this helps!
Jamie