by Ronnie Dauber

Created on: August 20, 2008

Nothing invites your family into your kitchen faster than the aroma of freshly baked soft pretzels. These are great snacks for everyone, and once you make your first batch, get ready for more requests.

Here is an appetizing recipe for soft pretzels that is so delicious you will never buy out again.

Ingredients:
1 cups of water
1 tbs. of salt
1 tbs. of brown sugar firmly packed

4 cups of bread flour
2 tsp. of yeast
2 cups of water
2 tbs. of baking soda

*NOTE: The type of yeast will differ depending on whether you are making the dough by hand or using a bread maker.

By hand use active yeast
Bread maker use instant or bread machine yeast

Making by hand:
Knead together in a large bowl the 1 cups of water, salt, brown sugar, bread flour and yeast. Cover and let rise for about 2 hours.

Bread Maker:
Place the 1 cups of water, salt, brown sugar, bread flour and yeast into the bread pan that is fitted with the kneading paddle. Set for dough/pizza dough and press start. The dough will mix, knead and rise.

Cooking the Pretzel:
When the dough has risen, place it onto a floured surface and divide it into two equal pieces. Roll each ball into a thin rope and then twist each rope into a pretzel shape. Place them onto a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Cover loosely with plastic and set aside to allow the pretzels to rise for another 30 minutes.

Fill a long cake pan or roasting pan with about two inches of water and bring it to a boil. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and then take a small bowl and stir together the two cups of water and the baking soda. Set aside.

When the pretzels have risen and the water is boiled, carefully place into the water one pretzel at a time. Boil for 1 minutes and then turn the pretzel over to cook the other side for the next 1 minutes. Repeat for the second pretzel.

Remove the boiled pretzels and lay them gently on a wire cooling rack to drain. Dip each pretzel into the baking soda and water and then put them back onto the baking sheet.

Bake in the oven until they are dark golden brown, which would be about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place them back on the wire cooling rack.

You can eat them warm or cold; either way is a delicious treat.

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