Honey Pretzel Burger Buns

Immediately after sharing with you my desire to cut the carbs and rely more on protein, I publish a bread recipe. Am I an incoherent person or just someone unable to stick with plans? Both, possibly. However, in the fabulous virtual world of my blog I can afford to be a person that eats a little of everything. A person with a good level of balance, at least when it comes to food choices but with all the possible exceptions  

So when I write about my will to boost the protein content, I am NOT stating that my diet would be exclusively protein-based. I intend to re-balance the caloric support in favor of a better distribution of nutrients.

Recently many journalists have pointed out that the Mediterranean diet is disappearing to make way for a diet based on more inexpensive carbohydrates. The Italian diet would suffer as economic crisis strikes and many people would bake pizza and bread at home to save money. Just as I have always done in London and, lucky me, not because of financial hardship but simply to enjoy the rustic flavors and pleasure of Italian home cooking.

In contrast with the alleged choices of the Italians dictated by the crisis (but I struggle to believe my countrymen cannot afford veggies anymore), I set a limit on my bread and pasta intake to count more on veggies and grains. I reserve pizza for a place of honor on Saturday nights; I let bucatini pasta wait in my pantry while stocks of high priority ingredients last (but pasta is always ready to roll in a fresh tomato sauce whenever I want); I do not argue the importance of bread, because although the prayer “Give us this day our daily bread” may not hold true for everybody, it is THAT unique staple food that when fresh baked fills the space with THAT simply awesome aroma. Something I need to go for, once in a while.

p.s. If you have read my posts over the last couple of months you may have noticed that I am getting caught up in quite a few food trends. I can’t hold my curiosity. I shared with you my misadventure with cronuts and my take on ramen burger with pasta. This recipe is inspired by “The Pretzel Bun Trend”  with a modified cooking technique particularly suitable to lazy people like me. If you are not that lazy then before baking, bring water and 3 tablespoons of baking soda to a simmer and cook the dough for about 1 minute. The soda solution will cause the crust to brown deeply.