Pretzels

On the top of the incredibly long list of food that my almost 4 year old son won't eat is bread.  He refuses any type of sandwich.  I've found a couple of loopholes, though, in the form of cinnamon rolls (minus the frosting, of course, because it's too "messy" for him) and pretzels.  Rather than run to Sam's Club every time he wants a pretzel, I decided to try making them at home.  A couple of hit and miss tries later, and I've got a great (and EASY!) recipe for you!

Homemade Pretzels

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tsp. white sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 C white sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP vegetable oil

1/2 C baking soda

4 cups hot water

Kosher salt, for topping

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 tsp sugar in the warm water.  Let that sit about ten minutes--until creamy.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, remaining sugar, and salt.  Make a well in the center, then add the oil and yeast mixture.  Mix and form into a dough.  If it's too dry, add water one TBSP at a time.  Knead the dough until smooth--about 7 to 8 minutes.  

(Or, if you're lazy like me, 2 minutes works, too.)

Lightly oil a large bowl, put the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil.  Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for about an hour (until it has doubled in size).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface (or just punch it down in the bowl...) and divide into 12 equal parts.  Roll each piece into a long snake-rope and twist into pretzel shape.  (This is easiest by making a U, then taking the top edges and twisting them a couple of times, then fold down to make the pretzel.)

Once the dough is all shaped, dip each one into the baking soda solution and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt (if you don't have it, I've used regular and they still turn out fine--they just don't taste quite as "pretzel-y").

Bake for about 8 minutes, until browned.

*Okay, some notes from experience:  You are supposed to roll the dough out until it's "pencil thin."  Trust me, though, your arms get really tired after a couple of these puppies, so if your pretzels end up being smaller and thicker (like mine), turn the oven down to 400 degrees otherwise they will be REALLY doughy, but burnt on the outside.  Also, in case you're wondering, the point of the baking soda bath is to make them taste like pretzels instead of salty bread.  And lastly, you can skip the Kosher salt step and instead, when they come out of the oven, spread melted butter on them and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Delicious either way!

(Sorry about lack of pictures!  My family and I eat these way too fast and I realized I needed a picture a little too late.)