I’ve been eyeing this recipe and finally had the energy enough to test it this weekend. At almost 34 weeks pregnant, my energy is almost a figment of my imagination. I am so so thrilled though to have made these incredibly simple and honestly no sweat pretzels!
The recipe allows for you to make about a dozen palm sized pretzels. They’re soft and even reheat well the following day. I store ours in a ziplock bag. Huge win was the kids and even Mike ate more than half the batch…I ate almost the other half. They’re perfect for snacking, and I’ll make another batch probably next weekend.
I have to preface that I am not much of a bread maker and am a novice to this side of baking. So when I saw the video tutorial and recipe from The Stay at Home Chef, I figured why not? You can head directly to her site or see the recipe with my own notes below!
Recipe (personal notes italicized):
Needed Ingredients:
Pretzels
1 1/4 cups water lukewarm – I used warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup brown sugar – I used light brown sugar
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour
Dipping Solution
1/4 cup baking soda
1 1/2 cups hot water
Toppings
melted butter and coarse salt
Cinnamon and sugar
Shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions:
1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar into the warm water. Add in the flour slowly and mix until combined. I ended up using my hands to fully mix the dough. In the video she advises to spray the bowl with nonstick spray – do this. Let the dough rise in a warm place until almost doubled which should only take about 20 minutes I did close to 25 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. We have a gas stove I needed to monitor the temp.
3. Divide the dough into golf ball sized lumps. Roll each ball into a snake or rope. Twist them into pretzel shapes (or whatever shape you’d like!).
4. In a small bowl or a liquid measuring cup, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Dip the pretzels into the solution and place on a well-greased cookie sheet or baking pan. Use parchment paper if you can. The pretzels easily burn on the bottom with just nonstick spray.
5. Bake for about 6 minutes at 500 degrees until they are golden brown. Watch them no more than 6 minutes!!
7. Remove from the oven and brush them with melted butter and sprinkle salt. I didn’t dip them in butter, but you can! Add your chosen toppings.
