homemade italian soft pretzels~

My sister Cheryl at  http://chershots.blogspot.com  made homemade soft pretzels ... she inspired me into giving it a try.  Like her... I tweaked around and came up with my own recipe.  Give them a try ... they are a lot easier than you might think.

Here's my recipe:

Homemade Italian Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 Cups warm water
1 Tblsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dry yeast
1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/2 tsp.  dried thyme
4 1/2 Cups flour
1/4 Cup melted butter

Vegetable spray for the pans

10 cups of water
2 heaping Tablespoons of baking soda

1 large egg yolk beaten
Course gourmet salt

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the 1 1/2 cups of water, sugar, salt, garlic, marjoram and thyme in a large bowl.  Sprinkle the yeast on top.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy.  Add the flour and melted butter.

Turn out on to a floured board and knead for 5 minutes.  Return to bowl and cover and let rise until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
Give 2 cookie sheets a heavy spraying with vegetable oil

In a large kettle bring 10 cups of water to a boil.  Add the baking soda and continue to boil.

In the meantime, turn the dough on to a oiled board or counter top and divide into 8 or 16 equal parts (depending on the size of pretzels you want).  Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope.  Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press the tail piece to the bottom of the U forming a pretzel shape.

Place the pretzels into the boiling soda water for 30 seconds.  They will sink when you drop them in and then float.  Remove from the water with a flat spatula and place onto the well sprayed cooking sheets.

Brush with the beaten egg yolk wash and sprinkle with course salt.
Bake until golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes.

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Until next time...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel