Pretzels For My Daughter's Party

My daughter had friends visiting from out of town so I made them some food.  I made this meat and cheese platter with deviled eggs. (Click for a closer look)

Guests always like these platters because there is such a large selection that everyone can find something they like.

 I made pretzels and garlic bread to accompany the platter. Those are southern vanilla bean tea cakes in the front.

This is a mac and cheese with chicken, ham, basil and roasted tomatoes.  She cooked it at her place so I don't have a finished photo.

 I made marinated mushrooms to go on the platter.

 And pickled, shaved carrots.

 Though I still have to fine tune this recipe, I am pretty happy with the way these are turning out.

 I've started making them larger so they hold their shape better.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 and ¾  - 4 cups all-purpose flour
• coarse sea salt and pepper for sprinkling

Baking Soda Bath

• ½ cup baking soda
• 9 cups water

*egg yolk and water for a wash.

Directions:

1. Whisk the yeast into warm water. Allow to sit for 1 minute. Whisk in salt, brown sugar, and melted butter. Slowly add 3 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time. Mix with  dough hook in a stand mixer for about 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough.
2. Cover the dough and let it rise for an hour.  At the end of the hour bring the water and baking soda to a boil.
3. Preheat oven to 425°F . Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.Sprinkle them with cracked black pepper and flaky sea salt.
4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces.
5. Roll the dough into a 20-22 inch rope. Take the ends and draw them together so the dough forms a circle. Twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape.
6. Bring baking soda and 9 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Drop 1-2 pretzels into the boiling water for 20-30 seconds.  Using a slotted spoon, lift the pretzel out of the water place on a towel to absorb the water. Place pretzel onto prepared baking sheet. Brush with a wash made of 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp. of water. Sprinkle each with coarse sea salt. Repeat with remaining pretzels.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

 The bottom will have  a nice crisp salty/peppery bite.  Make sure to use some pepper, it really adds to the flavor.

 You can freeze these or refrigerate the leftovers and just reheat them in the oven.

These are such a fun and delicious substitution for bread or rolls.