Mrs Pretzel

I'm sick and tired of going into Bluewater or Highcross and smelling Mr Pretzel's or Auntie Annies baking away and wishing I could get one without feeling robbed. One pretzel can often stretch you £4/5 nowadays and I've had enough so here is my very own Soft Pretzel recipe! Cover yours with cinnamon and sugar, dip it in Nutella or serve them warm with vanilla ice-cream, its up to you, just make sure you take a crack at this delicious treat!

Ingredients:

Makes approx. 6 cinnamon sugar pretzels

• 4 Cups of Plain Flour (+ 1 Extra Cup for kneading and rolling)
• 3 1/2 Cups of Warm Water
• 3 Cups of Granulated Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon of Active Yeast
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 4 Tablespoons of Butter
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons of Bicarbonate of Soda
• 2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon

Method:

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the warm water into a large bowl and add the yeast, one cup of the sugar and the salt, stirring until dissolved and frothy.

2. Add 4 Cups of Flour

3. With your hands, mix together the flour until all the ingredients are fully combined. At this point the mixture may be quite sticky but this is fine.

4. Cover the mixture with cling film or a towel wet with hot water and leave in a warm place for 30mins. I left mine in the microwave.

5. After 30 mins, the mixture should have nearly doubled in size and should still be sticky.

6. Use a little of the remaining flour and dust it onto your work surface, working it into the dough until it is no longer sticky and soft to the touch.

7. Take a tennis ball size of dough and roll it out into a long string about a metre in length.

8. To achieve the signature Pretzel shape, turn the dough into a "U" shape, twist it twice, then fold the two ends down to the bottom of the "U".

9. In a small bowl filled with the remaining warm water add the bicarbonate of soda, and dip your pretzel in, transferring it to a greased baking tray. Repeat steps 7-9 until you have used up all of your dough. 

10. Bake in the oven at 230 degrees (c) for 10-12 mins or until golden brown. 

11. Melt the butter into a shallow bowl, add the cinnamon to the remaining sugar and work from left to right dipping the warm pretzel into the butter then sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar.

12. Now happily call yourself Mrs/Sir Pretzels and beat those shopping centre prices!

If you loved this recipe and want to see more, please leave a comment below! I'd also love to see pictures of when you make it so feel free to tweet me your Pretzels with the hastag #CCC on twitter (@chrissola_) or snapchat (@chrissola). Thank you so much for visiting my blog and have a blessed day!