Pretzel Rolls

These were fun to make. They taste like a pretzel on the outside (a nice mix between crunchy and chewy crust) and a roll on the inside. I doubled the recipe and ended up with 16 rolls.

Complements of: www.amanda.fakeginger.com

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water

Cornmeal
8 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg white, beaten to blend glaze
coarse sea salt

Combine flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water into large bowl and stir until dough comes together in a ball. Put on floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough is elastic and smooth. Grease medium bowl. Add dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then towel; let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour or so.

Flour baking sheet. Punch dough down and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 8 pieces. Form each dough piece into a ball. Place dough balls on prepared sheet, flattening each slightly. Using a 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 25 minutes.

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Grease another baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. bring 8 cups water to boil in large pan. Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (water will foam up). Add 4 rolls X side up and cook 30 seconds before flipping over and cooking for another 30 seconds. Using slotted spoon, transfer rolls to prepared sheet, arranging X side up.

Repeat with remaining rolls.

Brush rolls with egg whit glaze. Sprinkle rolls generously with coarse salt. Bake rolls until brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Enjoy!