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I’ve always daydreamed of making pretzels. Then as soon as I visualize the work involved, I just go on with my day. I don’t know what I’ve been afraid of now that I’ve made my first batch. It was so fun to make, too. Plus they’re cute. [Dan laughs at me when I describe any food as "cute".]

Junior Pretzels

To ease my way into the pretzel making world, I picked a recipe that didn’t require ‘cooking’ the dough on the stove. Baby steps, baby steps. Also, the scientist (or OCD?) in me kicked in and wanting to have uniform results, I weighed each pretzel dough at 50g, and I was able to produce 15 mini pretzels. They were delish and lasted us for two days.


Making pretzels


A note on these pretzels:

As I said earlier, I took the no-dough-cooking route. I’m not sure if that’s the reason, but these pretzels did not have that fine dough texture when you eat it. It’s not similar to Wetzel’s Pretzels, nor did it have a crust like Auntie Anne’s. BUT this is a pretty easy pretzel recipe with very decent homemade results — it was soft and chewy. Dan loved them. Consider this note a warning from someone who’s overcritical about her cooking.

Here’s the recipe:

Junior Pretzels
[adapted from Souvlaki For The Soul]

Ingredients:

  • 3 1/2 - 4 cups of plain flour [includes flour for dusting your kneading space]
  • 3 heaped tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 1 pack active dry yeast [equivalent to 1/4 oz or 7 g]
  • 1 1/4 cups of lukewarm water
  • 1 teaspoon of table salt
  • For the eggwash: 1 egg beaten with a li’l water
  • coarse sea salt for topping

Preparation:

  1. Mix lukewarm water, brown sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Allow yeast to activate for about 15 minutes.
  2. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time to the yeast mixture incorporating well. Add flour until you can work the dough without it being too sticky to manipulate with your hands.
  3. Turn out onto a clean, floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Do so until the dough is elastic, but does not sticky.
  4. Cut a portion of the dough about the size of a golf ball, about 50 grams in weight. Roll it out into a ‘rope’ about 16 inches long.
  5. Hold and pinch together the two ends to form a rough circle as you lay it on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Twist the ends twice and fold to get that pretzel look.
  6. Once you have all your pretzels created cover them with a clean towel and let them rise in a warm, draft free area for about half an hour.
  7. Preheat oven to 475ºF.
  8. Brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
  9. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
  10. Enjoy warm and serve as is, or with with your favorite bread spread. Great with coffee or tea.
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