The breads that were served in economy, business and first class would always catch my eye! A wonderful variety of sweet, salty, savoury, nutty, grain breads. Especially, their shapes and how perfectly they would be baked! I had always wanted to try making them all, and hence starting with one of my most favourites.
Since I love salty / savoury food, this is, hands-down, one of my most favorite breads!
The textures of this bread are so varied and absolutely delicious!
The crust is slightly thick and chewy, sprinkled with coarse sea salt, the crumb (inside part of the bread) is beautifully airy and soft.
The entire combination of slightly hard and chewy on the outside and beautifully soft and spongy on the inside makes it one of the best breads to be dunked in a soup or had with just butter.
An absolute delight to make!
I hope you enjoy making it as much as I did.
A little information about this favourite;
Lye rolls / Pretzel rolls / Laugenbrötchen / Laugen Rolls are a baked specialty in Germany (especially in Bavaria and Swabia), Austria, and Switzerland. They are made by glazing bread rolls with a lye (a strong alkali which is highly soluble in water) solution before baking. In order to cause a Maillard reaction (browning of the bread) during baking for the characteristic browning effect, a lye roll needs to be coated with a high acidic solution.
The more concentrated the solution, the stronger the reaction, and better the colour. Lye is not the only way to produce this result; it's just the strongest and arguably best for this purpose. A baking soda or washing soda solution, which is easier to handle and safer to use, will provide a similar product but will not power as strong a reaction, so the effect will be less. Lye is the strongest, followed by washing soda and lastly baking soda.
Happy Baking!