Pretzel

Pretzel - glazed and salted cracker typically in the shape of a loose knot.

May 30, 2009

Obviously not in the shape of a knot. I took the easy route and did "pretzel bites" instead. I made 8 pretzels worth, and they were gone in minutes. Seriously. Yummy and way easy to make. The recipe is below.

During the few years that Calvin had an invitation store at University Mall I fell in love with soft pretzels. With cream cheese dip. I shiver a little bit just thinking about it. Since I hate to drive anywhere, but particularly outside of my zone (to American Fork on the west/south and Orem Center Street on the north - I know, I have issues) I hardly ever get to enjoy the bliss of the sift pretzel anymore. But believe you me, when I do get to the mall, I have a pretzel. No matter what. So the other night I was watching "Throwdown" on the Food Network, and the food was soft pretzels. They looked easy enough, but on "Throwdown" the put the baked pretzels into a boiling water solution to harden up the outside a little bit. Since I like the outside nice and soft, I looked for a recipe that was only baked, no boiling water. I figured I might have to try a few recipes before I found the right one, but I got lucky on the first try. I halved the recipe, but still used a full egg because I don't know how to "half" an egg. I hope you enjoy as much as we did. The kids had them gone in minutes!

2 pkgs active dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 c butter, softened

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg

6 1/2 cups flour

Additional butter for basting

Coarse ground sea salt

In a mixing bowl, disolve yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar in warm water. After the yeast foams, add the remaining sugar, butter, salt, egg and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch dough down. Turned onto a lightly floured surface, divide dough in half. Cut each into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a 20 inch rope. Shape into a pretzel. Place on greased baking sheets. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 25 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Brush lightly with butter after removing from the oven.

Again, I didn't shape mine into pretzels. I used my pizza cutter to cut the ropes into chunks after I had placed the ropes on the baking pan. Also, my oven had them perfectly cooked in 13 minutes. I watched through the oven window since my oven tends to cook a little fast. These were quick and easy enough to do anytime. Happy Baking!