Pretzels

 

So I know my blog used to read like a travel blog, and now it is like a food blog, and I would apologize, but I just can't. This is my life. I LOVE food. And today I came upon another winner winner! Soft pretzels. We love them. My kids love going to "Waffle cone Wednesday" at the mall, when TCBY sells their waffle cone size frozen yogurts for $1. I always end up buying soft pretzels, and defeat the purpose of saving money on the frozen yogurt. I have bought the frozen ones before and made them at home, but they are just not as good. Well today I finally tried this recipe I have been sitting on. Derrick wanted to go out for donuts, but who has time/money/energy for that? Beside we went last week, and lately my definition of watching my figure has been "watching it expand". So, long story short, I attempted the overwhelming pretzel recipe. It scared me because there was like an entire page of written instructions for how to make them. Uhhhh such a disservice, as they were so EASY!  I like to cook, hate to bake, and never try anything with too many ingredients or too long of instructions, as I am a mom of three very active children, so let's be honest, it just doesn't happen. 

These were fast, they were easy, and yummy. Crispy crunchy outside, soft chewy inside. 

Here's the scoop on how to do it:

Stick this stuff in your mixer:

1 cup warm water

2.25 tsp instant quick rise yeast

2.5 c flour

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

I used the paddle for about 30 seconds, then switched over to the dough hook, and mixed for about 4 minutes, until the dough was one big ball and not sticky. 

Then stick the dough in a ziplock bag with some flour on it so it doesn't stick to the edges. 

Let rise 30 mins or so.

Then cut your dough into 8 pieces (makes only 8 pretzels, so you may want to double this recipe), and roll each piece into a "snake" as I called it with Derrick, but really just make a rope, then fold into a pretzel shape. Derrick really had fun with this part, which is nice because kids love to help cook, so why not let them roll out and shape their own pretzel?

Then in a bowl put the following:

1/2 cup warm water

1 TBS baking soda

Microwave for 1 min

Dip pretzels in the soda wash (this is what makes them brown and crispy), and place on greased baking sheet. sprinkle with the big chunky salt. 

At this point you want to preheat your oven to 450. Then let the pretzels sit 10 minutes before baking them. I just cleaned up my counter and got my toppings out during then ten minutes. 

Bake for 9-10 minutes.

Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with other toppings if you don't want salt! 

YUMMY!

We did the salt ones, and some cinnamon and sugar. They were delicious either way. Really, such an easy recipe, especially since it is all stuff I almost always have on hand (no butter, etc. required to make the dough). And fresh, hot, delicious pretzels are a great treat.

I am going to try freezing them at the rolled out stage, before the soda wash, and see if they bake up well from frozen, because I think it would be nice to be able to pull them out and make them on the fly for after school snacks, etc. I will post an update