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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".]
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:
- Mix lukewarm water, brown sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Allow yeast to activate for about 15 minutes.
- 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.
- Turn out onto a clean, floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Do so until the dough is elastic, but does not sticky.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Preheat oven to 475ºF.
- Brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Enjoy warm and serve as is, or with with your favorite bread spread. Great with coffee or tea.
The pretzels look great! You crack me up with weighing each one to exactly 50 grams. I would have done the same thing!
Chucks last blog post..Vietnamese Steak and Watercress Salad
I’ve made the recipe from the cookbook “Honest Pretzels” by Mollie Katzen a few times-I was surprised how easy homemade pretzels are!
Elizabeths last blog post..Four Foods on Friday
Joy, those look great, and yeah, cute! I made pretzels once, and my cat took a bite out of each one. I had to throw them all out, hehe. Crazy cat.
I should try these with my kids!
Elles last blog post..Beauty and the Feast Challenge: Coconut Lime Scones and Mango Orange Curd
These look great Joy! I love warm, soft pretzels. :)
Loris last blog post..Holoholo to the Windward Side
These put my pretzels to shame… I could not get the dough to roll out to make them.. it could have been the recipe also.. I wanted mine to look like this!! They look great :O)
Sweet Sins 2 Shares last blog post..Crazy Weather…
Those pretzels look great! I’ve never been one for baking, so these are definitely impressive.
Hollys last blog post..A Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids by Margot Datz
Chuck — Thanks! Well, good to know I’m not the only one. Haha.
Elizabeth — Thanks, I’ll look for that.
Elle — Thanks. Oh no… bad kitty. :p I think the kids would enjoy making these. :)
Lori — Thank you. Yeah, they’re the best.
Sweet Sins 2 Share — Try the recipe I used. It’s fairly easy. :)
Holly — thanks!
Those definitely look delicious, now I’m hungry for some soft pretzels :)
These are so cute, Joy! I have never tried my hand at pretzels, you’ve inspired me!
Patricia Scarpins last blog post..Outrageous chocolate cookies
oh gosh, pretzels have been on my “to cook” list for such a long time! i have really got to make them! yours look wonderful.
Well, cooking or not, they look fab! I’m not sure how to really do the dough-weighing thing though; I tried it once and I went under. Then I realized… I can’t add any more dough to this! It’s not incorporated! It’ll look like a lump on the side that’ll separate easily! Something about discontinuous gluten strands… Haha, anyway, that’s just for obsessive-compulsive me :)
Thanks for the well-wishes, by the way! :)
Manggys last blog post..Oops!
Ada — Thanks! Go have some, girl.
Patricia — Thanks. You better try them!
Katy — I’ve crossed it off my list, now. Next…the duck fat rendering! Hehe.
Manggy — Thanks! There were times when I thought they wouldn’t come together, but the dough eventually came about. :)