Pizza! Pizza!

While driving down the road yesterday, my husband inexplicably began bouncing up and down in his seat. He shouted, "Look, look!"....then honked his horn and waved like a crazy man. The source of all this excitement?





That's right, the Little Caesar's mascot, happily waving from the side of the road. My husband turned to me with an abashed grin and said, "I can't believe I got so excited, I'm 29 years old".

After I finished laughing hysterically at him, I reflected on just why I love this man so much. Any man that can get that excited over a pizza chain mascot....well, ya just gotta love him!

Soft Pretzels

After a completely manic week starting my new job, I've finally managed to scrape together a little spare time to post some new material. So, I present you with one of my favorite snacks ever....soft pretzels. Yes, I know you can buy soft pretzels in the freezer case of your grocery store, but trust me these are head and shoulders above those ice encrusted beauties.

Soft Pretzels

3 ½ C of flour
4 T brown sugar
2 t salt
1 C water, pretty warm but not too hot (def. not boiling!!!)
1 T yeast, dissolved in the water.

1 egg, beaten up with 2 T water.

4 C boiling water, with 2 T baking soda added in.

For those of you using those small packages of yeast, 1 package is not enough. You'll need 1 package plus a little more. Do NOT use boiling water to dissolve the yeast, you will kill it. Meaning that nothing will rise, and you'll end up with dense little nuggety pretzels. Not good.
Combine the yeast/water, salt, and brown sugar in a stand mixer or food processor. I used a stand mixer w/ the dough hook attachment. Slowly add in your flour. You may need to slightly adjust your flour, as the dough may be too sticky.

At this point you can let the dough rest in the refrigerator if you like. I got lazy and actually let it sit for 2 days, which I don't recommend. Overnight is fine though.

Now you need to decide on the shape for your pretzels. If I'm feelin' lazy they become pretzels sticks. Why? Because it's a lot easier. If you're feeling more ambitious, as I was today, you can make them into actual pretzel shapes. Actually just felt guilty after letting the poor dough sit for so long in my fridge. I felt they deserved a proper shape after being ignored so long. But you can do whatever you like, I won't judge.

Divide your dough up into 6-10 pieces. Mine was divided up into 10, as I made miniature pretzels. Then roll them out into cigar shaped lengths, as long as you need for your particular shape.

If you're making a pretzel shape, grab each end with slightly wet fingers. Lay the middle down like you're making a U shape, cross the ends at the top, then bring them back down to the bottom. Because your fingers were a little wet, you can slightly smoosh the ends onto the bottom of the pretzel. Otherwise they won't stick well.

Once all your pretzels are shaped, set them on a greased cookie sheet. Now let them raise for a half hour.

Begin boiling your 4 c water. Add in the baking soda, don't let it boil over, it will be a huge mess. Not that I've ever done that or anything. Slowly dip each pretzel into the water mixture and let it stay in for 10-15 seconds. Fish it out and place back on the pan. Repeat until all are done, trying not to roast your fingers.

Using your egg/water wash, coat each pretzel. Trust me, it will make them pretty.
If you like, you can add some toppings to your pretzels. Salt, cinammon sugar, parmesan, whatever.

Bake at 400 degrees until browned. After they're done I like to squirt a little spray butter on them, but that's just me. Heck that stuff has no calories, I'd squirt it right into my mouth if I felt like it. When you're done you'll end up with this:



Mine ended up a little browner than I like, especially my cinnamon sugar ones (translation: they went into the trash). So keep your eye on them!