Soft Pretzel Rolls

Oh. My. Goodness!  These were SO good!  And so easy and pretty fast too!
Will definitely make these a lot more!  And with only a handful of ingredients they are so much better for you than any store-bought bread!  I'm gonna try them with whole wheat flour and see how they do...but GREAT!

I served these alongside cream of spinach and tomato soup and it was perfect!  But I can't wait to try these as a sandwich bread!  I was at a local Amish market this week and had a hot, soft pretzel ham and cheese sandwich and it was one of the yummiest things I think I've ever had!  So I will definitely be trying that soon!

Note - We cooked these at 425 as the recipe called for but by about 15 minutes in, they were already very dark brown.  And our oven is usually on the cool side...so next time I would probably lower the temp to 400 and start watching at 10 minutes.  But even with them being dark brown on top, they were wonderful, soft, and fluffy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 c warm water
• 2 tbsp warm milk
• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 c light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 4 c flour
• Pretzel salt, kosher salt, or sea salt. (I used sea salt.)
• 2 quarts cold water
• 1/2 c baking soda

Directions:
You will want to use a bread machine or stand mixer with a dough hook for this recipe.
Heat 1/3 c. water to 110°, add yeast and let stand until foamy.
Add remaining 1 c. warm water, milk, sugar and melted butter. Mix slightly to dissolve the sugar. Add flour and mix on medium-low speed.
Remove dough from mixer, or bread machine, once it forms a nice firm dough ball as shown above.
Knead dough for two minutes, roll into a 12″ log and cut into 12 equal balls.
Cover dough and let sit for 10 minutes.
Pat dough into rolls and set on a lightly floured surface (don’t skip the flouring part even if you have a nonstick pan), cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°.
In a saucepan bring 2 quarts of water to a rolling boil and add baking soda.
Drop two rolls into boiling water, turning once, for 30 seconds. Remove from water and let drain.
Set rolls an inch apart. To get that x mark, use a sharp knife and barely break the surface of the roll in an x shape.
Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.