Yummy Pretzels

I love to bake and cook for my family.  The kids love licking beater or wooden spoons with batter or dough.  Carter loves it so much that he brings me the hand mixer to make him something and I constantly find him taking clean beaters out of the dishwasher and licking them just to see if there’s something there.

This afternoon Reagan and I made Homemade Pretzels.  Well, I made the dough in my bread maker and she helped me roll them into pretzels.

Here’s the recipe if you want to try it out.  The directions are for mixing and kneading the dough by hand.  But I just dump all of the dough ingredients into my bread maker and in 1-1/2 hours I have perfectly risen dough ready to be baked. Easy and delicious.

Buttery Soft Pretzels

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 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.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). 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.