Homemade Soft Pretzels

Let me tell you a secret: I can`t keep my hands off any baked good that has a crispy outside and a fluffy, soft interior. It`s heaven! Give me a Coke together with a pretzel and you have me staying with you forever. 

There is a pretzel shop in our small town. It`s called "Gigi". What? Strange name for a shop that sells hundreds of pretzels every day. Believe it or not, it`s almost impossible to buy a pretzel if you are in an extreme hurry and can`t sneak in front of the queue. This is the main reason I usually have breakfast at home...

Whatever, I really felt like eating pizza and pretzels. Lots of carbs on my mind. So I made these...out of- you`ll never guess!

Pizza dough. Well, I found myself with leftover dough and as I craved pretzels, I satisfied both my cravings. Ain`t that cool? I don`t like to waste anything, so I end up turning it into a delicious food, or snack or whatever you like. `Cos this is how I roll.

There is really nothing I don`t like about this recipe: crispy crust, soft interior and good taste. Perfect for every comfort activity. 

The golden brown color is given by the egg I brushed them with just before baking. Altough, be careful with how much egg you put on them or else you`ll end up with some sort of egg-y bread taste...which is not cool, in my opinion. Also, feel free to omit the egg and substitute it with milk, heavy cream or olive oil. 

Oh, maybe you wonder what those black things are, yea, the one which I sprinkled over my pretzels. Those are dried chilli pepper flakes. I just can`t explain my love for spicy food and my obsession of adding pepper, chilli or curry in my meals. Ok, I`m not adding spoonfulls, but a pinch of them is enough. In my tea (yeah, don`t judge me), bruschetta, toast, pizza, pasta (especially), meat or soup. Each dish I`m eating has to be spicy to please me. The future taste won`t be sweet, salty nor sour, but spicy. Spices are the future! Oh, I`m starting to talk nonsense.

This is the closest I could get.  Just wanting to show you the soft inside. H-E-A-V-E-N! 

I`m so sorry for the low quality of my pictures, my shooting camera is a cheap Nikon d3100. I`m planning to get some nice lenses this time. The only problem is the not-so-big budget. I sometimes am so angry whenever I see a spoiled child with an expensive photo camera and he does not know how to use it properly. And then he creates some stupid Facebook page which is titled "(their name) Photography". I`m not talking about the ones who really take great pictures, but the internet is full of people with excellent cameras but horrible pictures. This is my opinion and if you feel like I`ve brought an offense to you, bear in mind that this is my personal thought of the situation. Thank you. Now let`s go on...

The hardest part in this recipe is just the kneading. Which makes me mad, especially on summer days when its hot and I have to twist, punch and pull that dough until it is elastic and no longer sticky. Another thing about making pretzels is boiling them in water+baking soda. Exactly! This ensures the lovely crust and absolute perfect interior. Don`t worry about the large amount of baking soda you find in this recipe, they will taste nothing like that. You have my word! 

Ingredients:

500 gr. all purpose flour

1 package (7 gr) active dry yeast

300 ml. lukewarm water (between 100-110 degrees F/50-60 C)

1 and 1/2 tsp salt 

1 Tablespoon of sugar

For boiling pretzels:

1 and 1/2 (1500 ml) l of water

1/4 cup baking soda

For the top:

1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons of water/milk/cream

kosher salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar or any kind of topping you prefer

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the lukewarm water with the sugar and yeast. Let it rest for 5 minutes or until it becomes foamy and you can smell it. That means it has activated.

2. In a large bowl, dump the flour and salt, whisking them a bit. Make a indentation/well in the center of it and pour the water-yeast mixture in there. Using a wooden spoon, your hand or a mixer, start combining everything together in a big, stiff mass. Once you`ve done that, use your hand to bring it out on a lightly floured surface and knead it for 15 minutes or until you get an smooth, elastic and no longer sticky dough.

3. Lightly oil a big bowl and place the dough in it, rotating it so that it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let it rise for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. 

4. Punch the dough down and put it on you floured surface. Knead it 2 more minutes and divide it into half. Now cut each half into 6 pieces, You should end up with 12 pieces of dough.

Roll the dough into a rope (using your hands) and holding both ends, shape them into and "U". Now, twist the ends, then bring them towards yourself and press them down into a pretzel shape. Continue like this until you have no more pieces of dough.

5. Bring the water to the boiling point and add the baking soda. Now is the time to preheat your oven at 375 d F/180C/lvl 4 gas and line your baking trays with parchment paper. Take each pretzel and put it into the boiling water. Don`t put them all in! Only one or two at a time, depending on how large you pot is and leave them to rise in the water. That should take about 30 seconds to 1 minute. After you have done that, put the pretzels on the prepared baking sheets. Lightly brush the tops with the beaten egg and sprinkle salt/sesame seeds or your favorite topping. Bake into the preheated oven for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown.