Homemade Pretzel Buns

I am a sucker for a big juicy cheeseburger.  Especially when my husband makes them!  He grinds his own hamburger meat, but that is different post!  I mean look at this burger looks like one out of a restaurant doesn’t it!  Trust me where we live you can’t find a better burger in town!

One of the many shows that I like to watch about food is the Travel Channel’s Food Paradise.  We were watching one on burgers and there was a burger place called Kuma’s Corner in Chicago.  These huge burgers were served on pretzel rolls and they looked amazing!  I love love love big soft pretzels so this sparked quite a bit of curiosity on my part!  I had to make my own pretzel roll.  After some searching I found a recipe that works really well and it is fairly simple!  If you like burgers and pretzels I encourage you to try these!  They are so good!

This recipes makes 8 rolls.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1 package active dry yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cups baking soda

1 whole egg, lightly beaten

Kosher, sea salt, or pretzel salt

Directions:

In a small bowl add the warm water, yeast and sugar.  Stir and let rest 5-10 minutes until foamy.  Make sure your water is 110 degrees.  If it is too warm your yeast will not activate!

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add flour, salt, and melted butter combine well.  Add the yeast mixture and mix until incorporated.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for at least an hour or until doubled in size.  I always turn my oven on the lowest temperature it will go and let it just get warm then turn it off and let my dough rest in there away from drafts.  About 80 degrees is a good dough rising temperature.  Punch down the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.  Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces, they will be about 5 ounces each.  To shape the dough take a piece of dough and start forming it into a round ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal.  One side of the ball should be totally smooth.

Place the dough balls on the baking sheet pinched side down and let rise for 30 minutes to an hour until they are doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large sauce pan bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil.  SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY add the baking soda.  If you put it all in at once it will boil over!

Place the 2 or three rolls in the boiling water seam side down.  Boil for 30 seconds, turn over and boil for 30 more seconds.  Remove and put back on the baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining rolls.  This will give your rolls the pretzel taste and texture so don’t skip this step.

Using a pastry brush, brush each roll with the beaten egg. Sprinkle each roll with salt and with a sharp knife cut 2 slashes or an “x” in the top of each roll.

Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes

Serve warm and enjoy!

People loved these buns so much that they were eating them by themselves. Try these for your next cook out you won’t be disappointed!

~Cheers!