Soft pretzel experiment

And so continues my love of carbos. With the last of my crackers quickly devoured, I now needed a new snack. Hmm what shall I make? Well last weekend, up north at a ski lodge, I got a soft pretzel. They are my undoubtedly my favorite snack when out and about. There is just something about them that I can't get enough of! I have made soft pretzels before, but I have also made pretzel rolls. You had to boil, then bake the pretzel rolls, which gave them the signature chewy texture. Since I have never boiled my actual pretzels, I decided that I might as well give it a shot. So this is also a very quick yeast risen bread.I don't know why, but I'm wildly amused by this picture! All I added was yeast sugar and water, and in 5 min it turned into this fizzy beast! How cool! So then you mix up the stuff and let it rise.






















This dough is enough for eight pretzels, so divide it up evenly!

Then you shape them into pretzels. Once, wile I was being lazy, I just twisted them into sticks, which was still pretty cool.Ok so here is the moment of truth.**drums for added effect** The mountain of fizz! I think that this happened because of the baking soda that I added. : D So I slid a pretzel at a time into the pot, after the fizz went down. I sprinkled some salt on top of the pretzels, and baked them. I also baked some non boiled pretzels. The pretzel on the left was not boiled, the one on the right was. The ones that were boiled and baked were chewier. I like the ones that were not boiled also, because they were sort of crisp and cool in their own unique way.

*I forgot to brush my non boiled pretzels with egg wash to make them shiny, but thats ok, they were still great!

Soft Pretzels

• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1-2 tbs baking soda

Combine the yeast, warm water, and sugar in a small dish (5 min)

Combine the flour and salt in a med. bowl. Add the yeast mixture, and 3/4 cup water. Mix untill combined. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth.

Place in an oiled bowl, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces and shape into pretzels, of pretzel twists.

You can either boil them in some water with the 1-2 tbs of baking soda for about a 30 sec. to a min., then bake at 400 degrees, or you can skip the boiling, and just bake at 400 degrees, but brush the pretzels with a little egg wash, or melted butter. Sprinkle with Salt.

Bake for 15-20 min, or until golden brown