Treat of the Day

This morning, Keara asked to have pretzels. I don't know where she pulled that from since we never have pretzels and we can't buy pretzels because all the ones at Walmart are manufactured with peanut butter. But it spurred the idea of making homemade soft pretzels which I love. So, I found a recipe and we whipped them up.

They are GOOD! If you like store bought soft pretzels then these are perfect for you. They're not that difficult to make, just basically like bread with an extra step and much less cooking time. We topped them with olive oil and sea salt, butter and sea salt, and olive oil and cinnamon sugar. They are all way yummy.

Mine aren't as pretty as the picture from allrecipes, but they're still good. (the above pic is mine, not allrecipes)

Soft Pretzels

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon oil (I used olive oil)

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup baking soda
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup coarse salt, for topping (or anything else you want to top it with...asiago, parmesan and garlic, cinnamon sugar, plain butter)

In my kitchen aid, I dissolved the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and oil. Mix well and slowly add flour until the dough forms and is not sticky. If it gets too dry, add a little water. Knead until smooth, about 7-8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I got the advice to put it in my oven with no heat on but just the oven light. It worked well).

Preheat oven to 415 degrees F. If you put the dough in the oven, make sure you remove it BEFORE preheating the oven.

In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

Remove from oven, brush oil or butter over tops and top with whatever toppings you choose. Remove from cookie sheet and enjoy!

I took the advice to bake them at 400 degrees intead of 450 (which the original recipe called for) but they were doughy. Another recommendation was to do them at 415 degrees, so I put them back in for another 3-4 minutes at 415 degrees and they came out perfect. Probably would have worked to do them at the temp from the beginning.

The girls LOVED them. I also read that they freeze well and you can just pop them in the oven for a few minutes from the freezer to enjoy anytime. I think I'll try that. That is, if they last that long.