Friday, July 10, 2009

Mall Pretzels!!!










Today Erin and Sadie were at my house for an "overnighter" and we decided that we wanted to make something together. So, mostly since I've been craving them like crazy, we decided to try a recipe for those wonderfully soft, chewy, flavorful big pretzels that you can buy for about $5.00 at any mall. Fortunately, these didn't cost anywhere near that much. They were absolutely wonderful! They tasted EXACTLY like the ones at the mall, and, if I may be so bold, almost better!!! ;) The outside was brown and crispy, but the inside was soft and chewy. Definitely a keeper!!!
There were a couple of different things we would have done differently with the recipe, had I actually been smart enough to listen to my mom's opinion. This recipe calls for too much flour. When we had finished mixing it up, we had a mound of dough that was thick, stiff, and frankly impossible to work with. So, we ended up adding a little bit of water to it, and it was fine after that.
Another problem was that the pretzels stuck horribly to the parchment paper, surprisingly. I would recommend just spraying the cookie sheet with Pam. Also, we didn't have Bread Flour, so we used regular flour but added 3/4 of a tablespoon of Gluten to it, and it worked fine. We sprinkled the pretzels with salt on some and cinnamon sugar on others.




INGREDIENTS
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast(about 2.25 tsp.)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt



DIRECTIONS
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.
Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan.
After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.









One with lotsa cinnamon sugar!!!!






Cannon's piece sign...



Hearts

2 comments:

Marsha said...

I was lucky enough to taste these! Glad there were still some left by the time I got to their house. They were delicious! Thanks Kaitlyn.

Anonymous said...

This looks sooo good. Can't wait to make them.