grade four recess pretzels

In grade four I had a friend named Megan. Megan had long, thick braids and a five foot tall Barbie hotel that her Dad built her for Christmas one year. During our grade four year Megan's Mom starting sending home made soft pretzels to school in Megan's lunch. She let me try one, and it was one of the most delicious things I had ever had. Before long, Megan was selling me pretzels for a quarter at lunch time. Not long after that, Megan's Mom gave me the recipe. All these years later I'm still baking them.

If you want to taste one of the most delicious pretzels of all time, here's the recipe. It's pretty simple and even easier if you can just throw the whole thing into the KitchenAid. One caveat, trust me on this one, take your rings off before you start kneading the dough. And don't use a scrubby to try and clean the bowl afterwards, you'll be picking dough out of it for weeks.

Megan's Grade Four Recess Pretzels

1T Yeast
1 1/2C Warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 - 4C white flour
1 egg (beaten, to coat)
coarse salt

If using a metal mixing bowl, warm the bowl with warm water and dry it out. Dissolve the sugar & yeast in warm water. Leave to foam untouched, about 10 min. Stir in salt & 2C of flour. I find a fork works better than a wooden spoon. Beat with fork until smooth. Stir in enough flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface & kneed until smooth, about 5 min. Place in a grease bowl and turn greased side up (I never do this step). Let rise in a warm place until double, 45 - 60 minutes. Turning the oven on to 200 and putting the dough bowl on top covered with a tea towel works nicely.

To form pretzels first divide dough into equal pieces --12 or 16 depending on how the dough rose. Take each piece and with a little flour on your hands roll it between your fingers just like make a play dough snake. Once the rope is about 12" long, twist it until it wraps around twice and then fold the ends over the loop to make the pretzel. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt. If you don't have course salt, table salt will work in a pinch but be careful not to over salt.

Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them, they tend to turn quickly. You're looking for golden tops and bottoms. Serve with fresh marinara, or mustard if you prefer. Enjoy!