April 28, 2012

it was a rainy, damp day...got into the low 50's ......i was at a Women's Tea at church until noon...we had a wonderful time....when i came home Ross had made a fire in the fireplace and kept it going all day....I love a warm, cozy house.....it inspired me to bake breads......

First I made some sandwich bread (recipe on january 29th) I love this recipe because it works GREAT every time.....this time I used 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat...it came out perfect.

then we found a recipe for Pretzel Buns and gave it a try...we found the recipe at Food.com but we changed it a bit.

Pretzel Buns:
1 1/3 cups water
2 1/2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar
4 cups flour
1/2 cup baking soda
pretzel salt

this recipe has a two steps....just like when you make Bagels....you have to boil these for a bit.

mix 1/3 cup warm water and the yeast in a small bowl and let it sit until it dissolves

in another container mix the 1 cup water, butter, brown sugar and milk...stir to dissolve the sugar

in the kitchen aid with a dough hook on....put in the flour...combine the yeast mixture to the other water mixture and add slowly to the flour...I use a medium speed....add a little more flour if needed. Mix for 2 min.

Roll into a 2 foot long log and cut into 12 even pieces

cover dough with plastic wrap and a damp cloth and let sit for 10 minutes

form dough into balls and cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap...let rise for 30 minutes

while these are rising, you can do the rest of the prep work for step 2.....preheat oven to 425 degrees....grease 2 cookie sheets......in a stockpot boil 2 qts of water....bring it to a rolling boil....at that point add the 1/2 cup of baking soda (slowly...to avoid an instant boil over - learned this one first hand..lol)

After the 30 minutes...place 2 rolls at a time into the boiling water.