Fifty-Two Dinners

One new recipe a week for a year. That was the original goal set as a New Year's resolution way back in 2009.

It didn't happen. Nor did it happen in the following years.

But I have continued posting and striving to try one new recipe a week. Some months it happens. Some months it doesn't.

And along the way I've picked up readers from across the country who occasionally pop in to see what's cooking.

Clearly there are better food blogs than mine.

But if you're looking for quick, easy, and healthy with a dash of humor... I'm glad to share what I can.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Homemade Wheat Pretzels

We've been eating a lot of pretzels lately. The Auntie Anne's make-at-home kind. They are delicious. But expensive.

So I decided to break out my old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook and try the recipe from scratch.

It had scary ingredients in it like Yeast. I'm not a bread baker. I have no idea how to use yeast. It requires exact temperatures. And rising. And I'm not very talented at following directions.

But we tried it out anyways.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBS cooking oil
1 tbs salt
2 TBS salt
3 quarts boiling water
1 slightly beaten white egg
1 TBS water

DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl stir together 1 1/2 cups of flour and yeast, set aside.  In a medium saucepan heat milk, sugar, oil and 1 tsp salt.  Heat until warm.  Add milk mixture to dry mixer.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then high for 3 minutes.  Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can with a wooden spoon.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Kneed in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough, about 6-8 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball.  Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface of the dough.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size.

Punch dough down.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, let rest 10 minutes.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.

Roll dough out into ropes, cut into strips about 16-inches long.  Shape into pretzels.

Bake on 475 degree oven for 4 minutes.  Lower temperature to 350.

Disolve 2 TBS salt into boiling water.  Lower pretzels, 3 or 4 at a time, into water.  Boil for 2 minutes, turning once.  Remove from water, drain on paper towels.  Place on baking sheets.

In a small mixing bowl stir together egg whites and water.  Brush pretzels with mixture.  Sprinkle with salt.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.


VERDICTWell, that was interesting. I never imagined that you made pretzels by baking them, boiling them, and then baking them again. But they turned out all right.

My biggest mistake was substituting 1/2 of the flour with whole wheat flower. That was too much. Waaaaayyy too much. Very wheaty.  And the instructions DO say 1 1/2 cups, not half and half.  I missed that step.  But by this point you know how well I follow directions.

But they were still good. A little too much effort for a quick snack, but good.

NUTRITION

Calories:  121
Fat: 2g 

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