YAY! We love yogurt around here. And baking. We love to bake, so I tried out this great
pretzel recipe from pinterest the other night for dinner. They were DELICIOUS. Quite possibly the best pretzels that I have ever had. I might go make some more right now:)
Soft Pretzels
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups
warm water (110 to 115 degrees F)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher
salt
2 1/4 tsp
instant yeast
22 oz
all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 oz
unsalted butter, melted
10 cups
water
2/3 cup
baking soda
2 tbsp
butter, melted
Pretzel, Kosher, or course sea
salt
1. To make the pretzel dough: In the
bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the
water, sugar, yeast, and salt on low speed for 10 seconds. Switch to the dough hook and add the flour
and butter. Mix on low speed until well
combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls
away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough
from the bowl and transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl tightly
with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes
or until the dough has doubled in size.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly
oiled work surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of
dough into a 24-inch rope. Place a barely damp towel over the dough and the
formed pretzels to prevent them from drying out while you form the other
pretzels.
3. At this point, you can freeze the
formed pretzels on the baking sheets.
Once completely frozen, transfer them to a large zipper bag and continue
to freeze until you need them. Use
within 2 months.
To make the pretzels: Preheat the
oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set
aside.
4. Bring the 10 cups of water and
the baking soda to a rolling boil in an wide 8-quart saucepan or roasting
pan. If you’re freezing your formed
pretzels, skip this step now and continue with it when you’re ready to boil and
bake your pretzels from the freezer.
5. Using a flat spatula, gently
lower the pretzels into the boiling water and boil them for 30 seconds. If boiling the frozen pretzels, add them to
the water directly from the freezer – do not thaw them – and boil for a total
of 45 seconds. Depending on the size of your pot, boil 2 to 4 pretzels at a
time. Remove the pretzels from the water
using the spatula, drain as best you can over the pot, and place them on the
baking sheets.
6. Brush the top of each pretzel with some melted butter and
sprinkle with the pretzel/Kosher/sea salt. Bake until dark golden brown in
color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes.
If the pretzels were frozen, bake for an extra 1 to 2 minutes. Lightly brush pretzels with the remaining
melted butter immediately after you remove them from the oven. Serve warm.
*I put regular table salt on
after I put the butter on before I put the pretzels in the oven and then I
sprinkled it with flax seeds. I did go with the freezing method, too. It worked great.
