Hot Soft Pretzels

This weekend I was craving more brioche.  We shamelessly devoured the brioche, the whole brioche.  It seems it turned us into brioche addicts and after the third "Gee, I wish we had more brioche" comment from Nick I decided loaf #2 was due!  I set out all the dry ingredients and started mixing.  About half way through you add the butter... THE BUTTER?!  I violated baker rule #1: always check your ingredients first! (As well as baker rule #2: Never, never run out of butter!).  What was I to do?  I didn't want to waste all these lovely ingredients... hmmm.  After a bit of deliberating I settled on soft pretzels.  I had made these before in middle school and loved them.  Now on to adjust the recipe to use the brioche ingredients.

I knew I wanted the pretzels to be a little sweeter and a little saltier than the brioche was... so a little more of each of those was added and we were ready to roll.  Soft pretzels are really fun but they do require an extra step compared to other breads.  In order to get that delicious chewy texture on the outside you have to boil them for a minute or two before you bake them.  Knowing that secret trick from middle school I moved on to start constructing our afternoon treat.

I decided to make two different types.  One brushed with melted butter and salt a la Auntie Anne's pretzels you find in malls.  The second was a cinnamon and sugar pretzel with a cream cheesy icing as Nick likes his pretzels sweeter.  They start out completely the same and even begin their baking process all as a team.  They are divided up in the last few minutes of baking and dressed differently.  This makes it super easy to appease the whole group and their varied tastes.  If you have people that like other flavors feel free to experiment with jalapenos, cheeses, cinnamon and raisins, etc.

Ingredients

yields 10 medium sized soft pretzels

1 package active dry yeast

1 t. sugar

1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

1/2 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees)

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 t. salt

1 T. baking soda

Toppings

2 T. melted butter

1 T. coarse sea salt or cinnamon and sugar

Directions

1) Dissolve the yeast and teaspoon of sugar into the warm water and allow to sit until it gets foamy - about 2-3 minutes.  Stir the brown sugar, milk, and egg into the yeast mixture.

2) Mix the flour and salt together and slowly add this to the yeast mixture stirring until the mixture becomes stiff and pulls away from the sides of the bowls.  Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and need the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic which should take about 10 minutes.  Alternatively you can do this with a stand mixer and a dough hook allowing the dough to mix for 6-7 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

3) Cover the dough and allow it to rest in warm place until it doubles in size. 

4) Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  And place a pot of water on the stove to boil with 1 T. of baking soda dissolved in it.  

5) Punch down the dough and cut into 10 even pieces.  Roll each piece into a long thin rope - about 18-24 inches in length.  Shape the ropes into pretzels (see graphic).

6) Place each pretzel in the hot water bath for 1 minute, flipping it after 30 seconds.  Place the pretzel on a greased baking sheet and place in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until it begins browning.  

7) Remove the pretzels from the oven and brush each with the melted butter and sprinkle on the salt or cinnamon and sugar and place the pretzels back in the oven for an additional 2-4 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with hot mustard, cheese sauce, or marinara.

Icing for Cinnamon and Sugar Pretzels

2 T. cream cheese, softened

1 T. milk

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/3 cup powdered sugar (less if you like it really runny, more if you like it thick)

Whisk together all ingredients and drizzle on top of the pretzels.