We have said for awhile that we should try to make pretzels, and with the cool weather the past couple days it made us want something warm and comforting. We decided to give it a try. I was really unsure if it would turn out as I have never made anything like this before. Thankfully my Mom has a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to food since she works as a cook. I mentioned that I had pretzel dough rising at home but that I was not sure of the next step that required us to boil the pretzel bites. She quickly informed me that all true pretzels are in fact boiled. Who knew? I sure didn’t! Thanks Mom!
We got our dough made up and let it rise while we went out for a walk with my Mom and Dad. When we got home, we put Evie to bed and got to work. You definitely want a stand mixer for the dough when you are preparing it or your arm will get really tired, plus the dough hook is so handy. While we decided to do a sweet version, you could easily change this around and leave the pretzels plain, lightly salted, or even make some spice ones and add jalapenos to it. If you are looking for a snack to make for your family, give this a try. If you have an older kid they could definitely help out with rolling the dough, and sprinkling them with sugar at the end.You will get hooked on these. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Pretzel
- 1 package of instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 Tsp salt
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 to 4 cups hot water
- 1/4 cup baking soda
Ingredients for Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Directions
- In the bowl of your electric mix combine the water, yeast, and the 2 Tbsp of sugar. Whisk it together on low in the mixed, then let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Combine in the vegetable oil, and the salt with the whisk attachement.
- With the mixer on the low speed, pour in the flour 1 cup of the flour until well blended. Switch to the hook attachment and add in the rest of the flour. Knead the flour in the mixer on low until you get a smooth, stretchy dough. You may need to add up to another 1/4 cup of flour.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in a warm place for 1 hour to 1 and a half hours. I set mine on the oven with the stove light on.
- Punch the dough down, and divide it into 6 even portions.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Work quickly so the dough doesn’t dry out, or cover the portions you aren’t working with currently with the plastic wrap from before.
- Roll the dough out into a rope, you may even find it easiest to spin it in your hands a little like a jump rope. This will help stretch it out for you. Cut it into bite size pieces about an inch or so long. We sprinkled our counter with a little bit of flour so the dough wouldn’t stick when we cut it.
- On the stove bring the 3 cups to 4 cups of water, and the baking soda to a boil. Whisk to dissolve the baking soda.
- Carefully place several portions into the water mixture, and let them boil for a minute. I warn you it may start to bubble a lot, so keep an eye on it. Remove with a slotted spoon, allowing excess water to drip off. Transfer the bite size portions to a baking sheet. You may want to cover the baking sheets with parchment paper. Leave about an inch distance between them.
- Bake in the oven for 9-12 minutes. Until the tops are golden brown. We found the bottoms of ours got golden first, so we flipped them over half way through baking.
- Let the portions cool down a little bit on a cooling rack before you try handling them.
- In a small bowl melt the butter, and in another combine the sugar and ground cinnamon. Dip the pretzel bites into the butter, and then into the sugar mixture. You could dip just one side, or you could do all sides it’s up to you.
- Serve warm. If you need to you can rewarm them.
