Pretzel sandwich buns

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, weigh all ingredients. 

Knead everything with a dough hook in your stand mixer for 8 minutes or if you are kneading by hand, stir all ingredients in your bowl until combined and then knead for 12 to 15 minutes on your countertop until you have a smooth, not-sticky dough.

Add dough to a lightly oiled bowl and allow to proof on the counter or a warm place in your kitchen for at least 1 hour.

After an hour roll out into bun shapes. I weigh my dough balls for consistency and shoot for 85 to 90-gram weight. You should be able to get 6 large buns or 8 normal-sized buns from this batch of dough.

Place each ball-shaped dough piece onto a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Cover your dough with lightly oiled plastic wrap or cover the sheet pan with another inverted sheet pan. Let the shaped buns rise for 1 hour.

Near the end of your rise time, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F (205 C).

Add water, baking soda and salt to a large pot over medium-high heat. We're going to dip the buns into this mixture for 30 seconds per side. Once the liquid starts to boil, reduce heat but keep the water simmering.

Once the baking soda and water bath is simmering, very carefully add each bun, 3 or 4 at a time, to the simmering water. Simmer each dough/bun for 30 seconds per side and then carefully flip. Once the second side has simmered for 30 seconds, move each bun back to the parchment-lined sheet pan. 

NOTE: read the notes below about adding salt to these buns. 

While the dough balls are still wet from the baking soda boiling process, you should add any topping ingredients. 

Once the toppings have been added, you can score the tops of your buns. This is purely for appearances, but you need to do it after the boiling process and after any toppings are added. 

Bake the buns for 18 to 22 minutes. I typically peek into the oven to check for the bread color at 18 minutes and let them go a bit longer if I want more color.

Remove buns from the oven and let cool on a wire rack on your counter. 

Once rolls are fully cooled, store them in a bag or container for up to a week.