A few weeks ago my wife and I took a day trip to Indianapolis. It was a great trip and one of the restaurants we visited (Weber Grill) had these amazing pretzel rolls. I kept eating them and eating them and when my food came, well, let’s say I needed a big box.
That got me thinking about pretzel rolls and wondering if I could make them. Pretzels have always seemed complicated to me, my mom never made them, so I really never knew how easy they could be to make.
I had most of the ingredients in my pantry. I had to run to the store to get some additional Kraft Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I was running low) and some bread flour. I was going to use regular all-purpose but my wife suggested I try bread flour because it would rise better. (That turned out to be an excellent suggestion). My goal was to NOT try and recreate the amazing pretzel roll I had in Indianapolis, but to combine that roll with the cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster. Imagine those cheddar biscuits with a pretzel texture! Mouth watering right?!
The recipe is pretty straightforward; it’s a little long but make sure to just follow it. I made these easily in the evening, while watching Game of Thrones. I would just pause the show in-between steps. Most of the time is for the bread to rise. You will need a good size food processor to make the dough quickly. Now for taste! Oh. My. Cheesy. Goodness!! Seriously I had cheese spread ready for them but didn’t use it at all. The sharp cheddar really set off this roll. The crust was firm, but not to hard. They were absolutely amazing. Just incredible! The best of both worlds, nice crust, chewy soft cheesy center, your family or friends will destroy these guaranteed. The best part….left overs. Just put them in the microwave for about 10 seconds and they are amazing and warm all over again! While this recipe is a little labor intensive, it’s not bad at all. It will make 8-10 rolls depending on how big you want them.
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 packet of quick-rising yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 6-8 oz of sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tsp sugar (to allow the yeast to feed)
- ⅓-3/4 cup of HOT water (not boiling)
- 6-8 cups of water
- 2 tbsps baking soda
- 2 tbsps sugar
- ¼ cup of Cornmeal (for bottom of pretzel rolls)
- 1 egg for glazing rolls
- Combine flour, yeast, cheese, salt, sugar in food processor and blend.
- With the food processor going slowly add the water running. You'll need about ½ cup to ¾ cup of water. You'll need to add enough to make the mixture into dough.
- Pull out the mixture and knead for 1 minute.
- grease a mixing bowl using a little olive or canola oil. Cover the dough completely with the oil then cover the mixing bowl with Saran Wrap and place a towel over it.
- If you are cooking let the dough rise near the range, if not, try and place it in a warm dry area with sunlight for 30 minutes.
- Flour baking sheet.
- Punch dough down and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth.
- Divide into eight pieces.
- Form each dough piece into ball.
- Place dough balls on prepared sheet, flattening each slightly.
- Using serrated knife, cut “X” in top center of each dough ball.
- Cover with towel and let dough balls rise until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease another baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. The cornmeal will serve as the bottom of the pretzel roll.
- Bring 6-8 cups water to boil in large pan.
- Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (help the water foam up for better coverage).
- Add 2-4 rolls to the water depending on the size of your pan and cook 30 seconds per side
- Using slotted spoon, transfer rolls to prepared pan, arranging “X” side up. Repeat with remaining rolls
- Mix up one-egg and glaze rolls generously
- Optional: Sprinkle rolls generously with coarse salt
- Bake rolls until brown, about 25 minutes
- Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes
- Serve rolls warm
Where does the cheese come into play? Did not see it in ingredients or instructions?
i’ll update the instructions!!