Week 2 Homemade Soft Pretzel

Soft Pretzels

I’m super excited to share this kid-friendly recipe!  Best part…no electric mixer required just a zippered plastic bag.  Easy Peasy!

PRETZEL INGREDIENTS:

• Gallon Zippered Plastic Bag ~ make sure it seals well.
• 1 1/2 C. warm water (120°F-130 F)
• 1 Tbsp. rapid rise yeast (active dry or instant yeast works well)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 3/4 to 4 C. flour
• Coarse sea salt for sprinkling or 1 TBS cinnamon and 1 cup of sugar

After making pretzel dip in...

• 1/2 cup of baking soda
• 3 cups of warm/hot water (you will be dipping the entire pretzel into the solution)

PRETZEL DIRECTIONS:

In a gallon zippered plastic bag, add the warm water and yeast.  Seal the bag and have the kids squish/shake to combine.  Don’t worry, there will be some yeast lumps when your done squishing. It’s ok, I promise.

Next, add the sugar and salt. Seal the bag up again, and shake some more. Add 2 cups of the flour into the bag (you will be adding the rest of the flour in a bit).  Seal bag and knead with fingers to blend all the ingredients together.

Add remaining flour to the bag a little at a time.  Seal the bag and knead until dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bag.

Once everything is combined, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes until smooth and elastic  Form into a ball and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap.  Let the dough rest 10 minutes or until dough doubles in size.

READY TO FORM THE PRETZELS?

We cut our dough into 12 similar sized balls.  Although, make your pretzels as big or as small as you like.

Start by rolling the dough into a long snake, lasso,  or rope.  Make sure your surface is floured to keep the dough from sticking.  Once you have a long snake, form it into a pretzel shape.  It took the kids a few tries, but they caught on pretty quickly.  Dip the pretzels in the warm water-baking soda solution. Lay the formed pretzels on a baking stone or lightly oiled baking sheet.

Let the pretzels rest until they are doubled in size, and bake. (we skipped this step and they were fine)

Bake at 425° F for 12-15 minutes.  Turn the oven to broil for the last 5 minutes to get the tops nice and brown. Sprinkle with salt or dip in brown sugar cinnamon.

Enjoy!  They taste best when they are warm, although are still yummy once they cool.