Pretzel Time

After watching Eli delight in playing with some Play-Doh and inspiration from a friend, Eli and I decided to mix up a batch of pretzels* on Friday afternoon. Aunt Kristi came over just in time to join in the fun.

We used this recipe:

Materials:
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 T sugar
• 2 packages dry yeast or 4 ½ tsp
• 1 egg
• 4 cups whole wheat flour (I definitely didn’t use this much!)
• salt
• mixing bowl
• rolling pin
• cookie sheet

Directions:
1. Place the sugar in the bowl and add the warm water. Make sure the water is warm, but not hot. Stir it once or twice to help the sugar dissolve.

2. Add the yeast. Let the yeast sit for about 15 minutes. The yeast should look foamy after this time.

3. Stir in the flour gradually until the dough is thick enough to knead (you may not need to add all 4 cups of the flour). Knead the dough for a few minutes, sprinkling flour on it to keep it from getting too sticky.

4. Grease the bowl. Shape the dough into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a dish

towel and put it in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

5. Punch the dough down and roll it with the rolling pin. Watch out for fingers! Cut it into strips and make shapes.

6. Put your shapes on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Beat the egg and coat the top of each pretzel with it. Sprinkle salt on top if you like.

7. Bake for about 12 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Eli had an absolute blast playing with the dough. Besides cutting out stars, I don't know if he actually ended up making many of the pretzels. He was too busy destroying whatever Kristi or I made...and adding it to his ginormous ball o' dough. What a goof!

*And if I'm being honest...the pretzel recipe is not quite perfected. Our pretzels turned out somewhere between doughy and crunchy...not a good place to be for a pretzel. I'd either undercook them next time...or cook them longer. They lacked a little pizazz in the flavor department as well. I'll have to think about what I would add to help them taste a little better. And I don't know if my substitution of WHOLE WHEAT flour made a difference at all. Overall, it was worth the fun even if the pretzels are not that tasty!*