Homemade Pretzels

I have been at The Country Living Fair and will be posting about it tomorrow.

I made this recipe for homemade pretzels the other day.  I am posting it because my family loved them.  I, however, did not think they had great pretzel flavor so I will be trying other recipes soon.  These are worth making because they have a nice crisp crust and a chewy center.  And they are very easy to make.

Pour 1 C. of water into your mixer bowl. Add 2-1/4 tsp. of rapid rise yeast, 1-1/2 tsp. sugar and 1 tsp. salt.  Mix until blended.

Add 3-1/4 C. of all purpose flour.

Mix and kneed until you have a nice ball of dough.

Place it in a greased bowl and flip to coat.  Cover with plastic and let proof until doubled.

I actually doubled this recipe so you can see my bowl is full.

You would end up with one log of dough.  Cut it into 12 equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a long rope about 18 inches long.

Fold into pretzel shapes and lay them on greased parchment paper.

Let them rise for about 20 minutes.

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add 2 tsp. of baking soda.  Turn it down to a simmer.

Drop the pretzels in the water and cook them for about 20 seconds on each side. Drain them on racks.

Place them on parchment covered cookie sheets and brush them with a mixture of 1 egg white and 1 tsp. of water.  Sprinkle them with course salt.

Bake them at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden.  As you can see they do not look like classic pretzels but they still were very good.  I will keep searching for a good recipe.