soft pretzel bites

The first blog assigned to me for the secret recipe club was Katie's blog betcha can't eat just one .  Katie is a mom that lives in Canada and not only takes care of her children but, also runs a daycare.  How she finds time to make the amazing food on her blog is beyond me.  I can barely get a meal on the table with my two kids!  I was immediately sucked in once I discovered Katie's blog and loved how so many of her recipes were geared toward family fare and allowing the kids to get involved.  I have always wanted to make pretzels and once I saw Katie's plump soft pretzels I knew I had to give them a try.  After I had the dough made I set it up at the kitchen table for the kids to help.  I was thinking fun this will be just like play-dough but, we will produce amazing looking and tasting pretzels.  Boy was I wrong.  The dough was getting squeezed and pulled by the kids but, noting was resembling a pretzel.  I gave up and just let them play will a ball of dough and at that point I opted for bites rather then a pretzel shape.  I was in survival mode and needed to save as much dough as possible from the grips of my kids.  I did half of the bites with salt and half with cinnamon and sugar.  The kids hands down liked the cinnamon and sugar version better.  I however, loved the salted version dipped in spicy mustard.  The outside was golden and the inside was soft and chewy.  They were delicious and I know this is a recipe and a blog I will come back to over and over.

soft pretzel bites

adapted: betcha can't eat just one

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast (or 1 pkg)
• 3 1/2 -4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp water
• Coarse salt and/or cinnamon and sugar for topping pretzels. 

Mix the warm water, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.  Mix for 102 minutes to incorporate.

Add 3 1/2 cups of the flour, salt and melted butter.  Begin to knead the mixture, adding flour until the dough is soft and smooth.  Continue to knead with dough hook for 4-5 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise, covered in a draft free area until doubled in bulk.  Usually about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line baking pans with parchment paper or silpat. 

Bring water and baking soda to a boil in a large pot on the stove.  Be sure to use the full amount of baking soda, it really helps achieve the chewy texture!

Gently deflate the dough and divide it into 8 portions.

Roll each portion of dough into a rope roughly 18″ long.  Cut into 1" pieces.

Once pretzels bites are formed, place 5-10 at a time in the pot of boiling water and baking soda for about 30 seconds.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pretzels to your prepared baking sheet.

Brush each pretzel with the water/egg yolk mixture and sprinkle with salt or cinnamon and sugar.

Bake pretzels for 15-20 minutes, rotating pans half way through the baking time.  Remove from the oven when the pretzels turn a deep golden brown.