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The whole wide world is aware of this scary and devastating coronavirus. While many have already been impacted by it, others are staying home and doing their best to quarantine. Living in Los Angeles, we are currently under a stay home order. So while my husband, my youngest step-daughter, her boyfriend, and myself sit at home quarantined, I’ve been keeping my self busy by cooking, using what food items we have.
Fortunately, I had some basic items such as flour, yeast, sugar, olive oil, and salt, which I used to make these delicious warm pretzels. Unfortunately, due to the shortage of cheese, in our local markets, I wasn’t able to make the beer cheese that I would have preferred to serve with these pretzels. Luckily, I did have some grainy mustard and a jar of cheese dip which went perfectly with these warm and doughy pretzels.
Honestly, I was surprised at how easy soft pretzels are to make. The hardest part of making them was trying to figure out the right way to fold the pretzel, which really isn’t that hard if you do what I did.
Take your piece of rolled dough and shape it into a smiley face, then take the top right end and bring it down towards the left side of the smiley face and press the end, repeat with the top left end, shaping in to what looks like a heart. Don’t try to make them perfect because the more rustic looking the better. Just make them with love and they will be enjoyed. Stay home and stay safe my friends.
Let me know what you are doing with your time while staying home.
stay home soft pretzels
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
Description
Delicious warm pretzels
Ingredients
- For the pretzel dough:
- 1 cup WARM water
- 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- For baking:
- Vegetable oil for brushing
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- Coarse (Maldon Sea Salt Flakes for sprinkling)
Instructions
To make the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until foamy, approximately 10 minutes. Add the olive oil, flour, and kosher salt to the bowl. Attach the dough hook and mix the dough on medium-low speed until smooth and the dough starts to form a ball. Remove dough and pat into a ball shape, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and brush the parchment paper lightly with vegetable oil. Place the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, then cut it into 6 to 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a robe about 18 inches long. I used my cutting board to measure the ropes. With each rope positioned horizontally, bring the 2 ends up and toward the center as if forming an oval, cross one end over the other, and press each end into the bottom of the oval to create a pretzel shape. Place the pretzels on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them evenly.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450 Fahrenheit.
Fill a large pot with 7 cups of water, stir in the baking soda, and bring to a boil over high heat. Gently drop 2 pretzels at a time into the boiling water. Boil for just under 1 minute, using a slotted spoon or spatula to lightly splash the boiling water on top of the pretzels. Return the boiled pretzels to the baking sheets, top side up. Sprinkle with the coarse salt and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets about halfway through baking time. Serve warm.
Notes
The equipment section above contains affiliate links to products I use and love!
Dori says
Yummy!