#softpretzel

Soft pretzels or pretzel buns

Ingredients:

Dough:

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 Tbs honey (or sugar)

1 3/4 tsp active dry yeast

4 Tbs avocado oil (can use unsalted butter)

For baking the pretzels or buns:

10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

1 large egg, whisked with a dash of water

Kosher salt for sprinkling

Instructions:

Add the water and honey into a bowl or measuring cup, let honey dissolve. Add yeast and let foam for a few minutes.

Add flour, salt, oil and yeast mixture into a large bowl and mix by hand until a ball starts to form.

Dump onto a floured surface and knead for 5 or so minutes adding a dusting of flour as needed until dough is soft but not sticky. (When the dough starts to feel warm and soft, you are almost there) Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap. Keep in a warm place until it has doubled in size, usually an hour or so. (My house is chilly this time of year, so I turn my oven onto warm until preheated, turn it off and place covered bowl in there to rise.)

Preheat oven to 450. Prep baking sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down dough and divide into 8-10 pieces. Roll each dough portion between your palm and the counter to form a ball. Place on parchment. If doing soft pretzels, roll out dough piece into a 19-21 inch rope, using your palms to roll and stretch to lengthy. Twist into pretzel shape, pinch the ends well to keep the shape. Let rise again for 20 minutes, on the counter is fine at this stage.

Meanwhile bring the water and baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Turn heat down to simmer so that no bubbles break the surface. Drop 2-3 buns/pretzels into the water, leaving for 30 seconds on each side. Remove and place back on parchment paper, brush with egg mixture and sprinkle with salt. If making buns, cut two shallow slits into the top of the bun after the egg and salt are done.

Bake buns for 13-15 minutes.

Bake pretzels for 8-10 minutes.

Mini pretzels or pretzel knots are also a fun option and will bake for 8-10 minutes as well.

Take out of oven and transfer to cooling rack. Enjoy once they cool enough to handle :)

This last week has been full of hard work, play, family, friends, hosting, traveling, shopping, chores, and on and on. This upcoming weekend is full of slaughtering our steers and butchering one of our pigs. I'm sure you can guess the idea behind next weeks post. I decided today to scrap a few chores in the name of baking some pretzel buns and pretzels for my family. Sometimes life is crazy, any more it feels like I say that every week. Crazy can be really, really good. It's not always a bad thing to be so busy and full of life that you're not even sure what day it is or how most the week vanished already. When life gets crazy, I try to do something nice, not just for the fam, but for me as well. I got in a run today and decided that making bread was a priority. I enjoy it, it's a newly discovered happy place for me. I can't always control how our week goes but I can make bread, and bread equals happiness....at least for me. Give these a try, I promise they are amazing and they aren't as hard as you may think. My family can burn through a single batch in one day, so I always double the batch (pictures are from a double batch). Have a fantastic Veteran's Day weekend and make sure you thank the veterans in your life. Maybe make them pretzels 😉