Well with two days at home before I head back into the world of nursing and with the fact we are to shelter in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is going on. I decided it would be a pretty great time for my daughter and I to spend some good quality time baking together. We were craving something salty, I looked around my house and figured out that I had all the ingredients I needed to make pretzels. Luckily, I always have flour, salt, sugar and yeast in our pantry so that we are ready for anything. Well it took two tries and a lot of tasting but we finally figured out a recipe that worked.

Items needed:

2 large bowls (I prefer glass)

Salt (ionized does not work well with pink Himalayan)- 2 Tsp.

All-purpose flour – 4 to 4/12 cups

Sugar (granulated) – 1 Tbsp.

Butter – half a stick of unsalted butter melted

Baking soda – 2/3 cups

Large pot

Instant yeast – one packet or 2 ¼ Tps.

Parchment paper

Baking  sheet

Eggs – 1 large egg yolk

Warm water- 1 ½ cups and then 1 tbsp. for the egg mixture

Olive oil spray

Plastic wrap or warmed towel

Recipe:

Start by putting 1 ½ cups of warm water into one bowl, then add 1 tbsp. of sugar, 2 tsp. of salt, and mix together until dissolved. Then Sprinkle instant yeast on top either one packet or 2 ¼ tsp of instant yeast from the jar. You will want the yeast to sit on top of the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the yeast foams. Then you will add 4 ½ cups of flour add 1 cup at a time, at the same time add the half a stick of melted butter and mix all the ingredients together until you get the dough consistency. Next in the second bowl spray the inside fully with the olive oil spray and then place the dough into that bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a heavy warmed towel let the dough rest for 1 hr.

While you are waiting for the dough to rise you can prep the baking tray sheet by lining it with parchment paper done and spraying it with olive oil. You should pre heat your oven to 450 degrees. Take your large pot and fill it with warm water about 10 cups depending on your pot size, then add 2/3 cups of baking soda and bring it all to a boil. Once the dough has finished resting cut it into 8 equal sections, then roll each section out until they are about 20-30 inches long( I find this works the best) but make them as big or as small as you like, just have fun with it.

Now you will need to make the pretzel shape you, take each end and form a U shape then cross them over each other and twist in the middle then pull the ends down the bottom of the U with the ends hanging over a bit, then press. This will form the shape of a pretzels. My motto though is it does not need to look pretty, but the taste is what matters the most.

Once you have created all your pretzels you will then place them one at a time into the boiling water for 30 seconds each (only on one side) DO NOT FLIP it over in the water and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Then using a large spatula take them out of the water and place on to the parchment paper. When all have been placed on the parchment paper, combine one large egg yolk with a 1 Tbsp. of warm water and mix thoroughly, then brush this over each pretzel. Lastly sprinkle a little bit of salt over each for this I just used pink Himalayan salt and did not buy sperate pretzel salt. Then place the tray into the over for about 20 min, start will 15 minutes first then check them if not yet golden brown put back in for another 5 minutes.

Once they are fully cooked place on a cooling rack and wait about 3-5 minutes and then its time to enjoy. Hope you all enjoy this recipe and let me know how your creations turned out!

 

ps. dont forget to wash your hands!

XOXO

Love, Alie