One year ago, Jim Osborne’s one-man pretzel operation, Rösch Bakehaus, began by chance.
As 225 Dine reports, Osborne had spent some months picking up the art of traditional pretzel-making while visiting his family’s native Germany. He learned how to perfect the dough and balance flavors from chef Lisa Cramer von Clausbruch and her foodie husband Andreas.
Already a commercial photographer for Lee Michaels and adjunct professor at LSU, the 33-year-old Osborne saw baking mostly as a hobby until he brought a batch of pretzels to a neighbor as a thank-you gift.
That neighbor happened to be former City Pork executive chef Sean Rivera, and he liked the pretzels so much that he insisted Osborne bake buns for City Pork specials.
Rösch Bakehaus’ pretzels now hold a permanent residence on the food menu chalkboard at The Bulldog and frequently pop up in specials at City Pork locations, as well as making appearances at Rosemary’s Kitchen in Ruston, Freret Market in New Orleans and festivals across the South.
Osborne loves experimenting with flavors, and some of his special batches have included sweet cornbread pretzel rolls with chives and cracklins, dark chocolate pretzels with dried orange peel and lavender salt and a Bavarian pretzel king cake with spiced Bosch pear filling and orange blossom icing.
“We have the core product line … but the fun part of this is doing custom things for people,” Osborne says. “Anyone can call and say, ‘Hey, I want something that’s never been done before.’”
With dough in hand, Osborne is up to the challenge.
“It’s sort of a religious experience,” Osborne says of working with the dough. “It’s methodical. It’s very physical. You’re manipulating this living thing, and it has to be coerced into doing what you want it to do. That’s the beauty of it.”
Read the full story, which includes details about the technique Osborne uses to perfect his pretzels. Make sure you get your fill of local culinary news each week by signing up for the free 225 Dine e-newsletter.
