soft pretzels
This is not my first experience living abroad, though it is my longest thus far. Before this, I spent two months student teaching in Plymouth, England, during Spring 2008. Nine American girls in one on-campus apartment---it was an interesting situation! While we mainly ate frozen pizza from ASDA, we did do a little cooking and baking in the kitchen, not just reheating. One girl had to plan an “American” day for her kindergarten class. Trying to come up with a good food from South-Eastern Pennsylvania, she found a recipe for pretzels. I looked over the recipe with her and helped her do a test-run; what a hit! We ended up making that recipe 3 or 4 more times in the 8 weeks, sometimes for students, sometimes for ourselves, and sometimes as gifts for our co-operating teachers. Since then, I’ve made the recipe in Pennsylvania and China. It’s fairly simple and the ingredients couldn’t be easier! Feel free to enjoy with yellow mustard.
SOFT PRETZELS
2 Tbsp warm water, plus 1 1/3 cups warm water
1 package (2 ¼ tsp) dry yeast
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour
½ cup baking soda
Kosher salt or pretzel salt, if available
DISSOLVE yeast in a large mixing bowl with 2 Tbsp warm water. Gradually stir in the remaining warm water and brown sugar. Gradually add the flour and continue mixing until it forms a ball (using a mixer and dough hook, if possible). Turn it out onto a work surface and knead the dough to make it smooth. Use enough flour on your work surface so the dough is not sticky. Preheat oven to 475°F. Grease 2 cookie sheets.
BOIL 2 quarts of water and the baking soda in a large saucepan. Cut dough into golf ball size pieces. Roll them into 1/2-inch thick worms. Form a U then cross the ends, twisting at the middle. Fold the ends back down to meet the U (which is now an O) and press to secure the dough. (If pretzels seem to come undone, try “gluing” the seam by dampening the area with a small amount of water before pressing to secure.)
DROP pretzels into the boiling water for 30 seconds then scoop out and place it on the greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Best consumed while warm.
