Pretzel Love

Sometimes necessity is the mother of....well trying something new.  Today we needed a few things, but call me lazy but I really just didn't feel like going anywhere.  And truth be told, most of the things we "needed" weren't really needs, just things we had run out of  -  snacks, sweets, etc.  So I did some thinking and decided to make something sweet, savory and warm and delicious - SOFT PRETZELS!  Sarah had tried some Auntie Anne's a few weeks ago and said they were awesome, so I figured I'd give it a shot.


I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but I tweaked it just a bit and here it is below:


Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (~110 degrees F)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•  
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water

melted butter

salt and/or cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes to let the yeast get all frothy.
2. Pour yeast mixture and oil into the bowl of your mixer and using the dough hook mix in the 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 cups of flour.  This should form a nice dough.  If it's dry add a bit of water, if it's sticky add some flour. 
3. Turn the dough out onto your counter and knead for 5 or so minutes.  It will be stretchy and tough.  
4. Oil a bowl.  Put kneaded dough into bowl and turn to coat with oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for one hour.  It'll be big!
5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
6. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 7 minutes, until browned.
8. Remove baked pretzels and brush with melted butter.  Brush a second time and sprinkle with either salt or cinnamon sugar.

These things were so delicious!  Totally amazing.  Oh and in honor of the season - we made hearts! <3

Note on photography (a term i use loosely to refer to the pics here) - I really need stop baking at night, daylight photos always turn out so much better.