Soft Pretzels

I have a confession to make. I love mall food. No trip to the mall is complete without at least 1 pair of shoes, a new purse, orange chicken from Panda Express, Mrs. Field’s cookies, a strawberry frappuccino from Starbuck’s and a soft pretzel from Auntie Anne’s. After all that food I’ll also have to pick up a new wardrobe because all of the clothes I own will be about 4 sizes too small. But those soft pretzels are worth every calorie. My favorite soft pretzel is the cinnamon/sugar one. So good. And now I don’t even need to go to the mall to get my pretzel fix. This could be a dangerous situation.

A couple years ago we made our first attempt at soft pretzels. Let’s just say it was not a success. In fact it was much closer to disaster than success. We missed one important step. We forgot to add the baking soda to the water before we boiled the pretzels. We tried to go back and re-do them but it was too late, they didn’t puff up at all. I don’t know the science behind the baking soda, but I do know it is a necessary step, so don’t skip it! This time we remembered the baking soda and our pretzels turned out perfect. We made 2 cinnamon/sugar pretzels, 2 asiago pretzels and 4 salt pretzels. Next time we will skip the salt ones and make more cinnamon/sugar and asiago ones. I used the leftover pretzels to make Cliff roast beef sandwiches on pretzel bread for lunch. Our second attempt at soft pretzels were a complete success.

Here is what you'll need

Add the water to the sugar, salt and yeast; mix until the yeast is dissolved.

Add the flour; continue mixing

Add the melted butter

When the dough begins to pull away from the bowl it is done

Transfer to an oiled bowl

Let it rise. Don't be stingy, use a bigger bowl.

Divide the dough into 8 equal parts

Roll the dough into ropes

Twist into pretzels

Add baking soda to the boiling water and boil each pretzel for about 30 seconds

Brush the pretzels with the egg wash and sprinkle with kosher salt or asiago cheese if desired

lookin' good

Dip the pretzels you want to top with cinnamon/sugar in butter

Dip them in cinnamon/sugar

Still too hot to eat!

 

Better than Auntie Anne's!!

BLOGROLL