Home Made Pretzels

Who loves carbs? I do, I do! I always want to make my own bread and dough and such, but you see, I have this irrational fear. I am terrified of yeast. I mean, it's alive and you eat it! YIKES! Plus I always mess it up. This recipe was calling my name, pretzels, yum! Even though it called for yeast, I decided to just try it anyway. It's a little involved, but so worth it! Mine didn't come out very pretty, but they tasted delicious and that's what really counts.
Here is the original recipe

You need:
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 packet of yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup baking soda
2 quarts water
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
course sea salt 

First make the yeast according to the package. 

Let it get all foamy...

It's alive!

Then add in the flour, salt, baking soda and butter. Then knead it and form it into a ball. Then put the dough ball into a bowl and let it rise some where warm for about an hour covered with a towel. This is the part that I was afraid of, so I went to the store and prayed that it worked. When I got home it was a fluffy, puffy, dough ball, success!

Next cut the dough ball into pieces on a floured surface. Then line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray. 

Not very pretty...but it will do!

Then cover with a towel again and let them rise for another 30 minutes. There was a lot of waiting during this recipe. I am glad I had things to do!

After they are all puffed up again, preheat the oven to 425 and put the rack in the middle of the oven. Next boil up some water in a sauce pan. Then here is where it got a little hairy. The recipe calls for adding in 1/4 cup of baking soda when the water reached a rolling boil. Well, I dumped in the whole cup all at once and it was an explosion on my stove of foamy baking soda-y water!

 I would suggest adding it very gradually and stirring while you add. 

Then turn down to a low boil. Next, here's the weird part, you add the dough right into the boiling water for 30 seconds, then flip and let it boil for another 30 seconds.

My baking soda mess!

 Place the dough rolls onto a paper towel to dry off a little and then transfer them back to the greased baking sheet.

 After all of the rolls have been boiled, brush the top with a beaten egg/water mixture and top with salt. 

Make slits in the dough (I guess to let the yeast breathe??)

Then bake them at 425 for 20 minutes. They make all kinds of popping and bubbling sounds in the oven, but when they come out it's magical!

They were amazing! The dough was a little dense, but I shared them with my family and I am pretty sure they were a hit! Next time we are going to experiment and try actual pretzel shapes, we shall see how that goes! Happy baking, yeast lovers!