Sometimes my friends from the South use the phrase “y’all” as a complete sentence. It means, “Oh my goodness, you guys, can you believe it?” For example, we may go to the mall and see an awesome deal. Someone will simply say, “Y’all” to get our attention and hold up the price tag.
When I first tasted these pretzels, I wanted to look around to anyone who will listen and just say, “Y’all.” THESE ARE AMAZING. And no words can really describe them. If Davey didn’t like his job so much, I think I could convince him to quit and open up his own pretzel stand in the mall. He could give Auntie Anne a run for her money, that’s for sure.
Davey typically looks for extremely easy recipes (less than 5 ingredients), so I was surprised when he told me yesterday he was going to make pretzels. (side note: This may or may not have been after he took me to the mall because I told him I was craving mall pretzels — after which we left the mall empty handed because the pretzels looked ‘too hard and dry’ to satisfy my craving…err…). Not to say I don’t have confidence in my husband’s skills, but it seemed like a far-fetched idea for Davey—whose first home cooked meal two years ago consisted of a hot dog on a piece of white bread with shredded cheese on top—to make something that required active dry yeast. Doesn’t yeast make things difficult?
Well, apparently not. This recipe turned out surprisingly easy and surprisingly scrumptious.
I’m willing to share Davey’s recipe with you, but ladies, you’re on your own for finding a man who will make homemade pretzels for you when your 23 weeks pregnant and having strange cravings.
If you don’t want to just say, “Y’all!” after your first bite, then you must be missing some taste buds.
Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
Sweet Flavoring:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
dash of cinnamon
Directions
Warm the milk in a saucepan until it’s hot enough to stick your finger in the milk for 5 seconds, (think just above hot tub temperature). Pour into a medium bowl and stir in one packet of yeast. Let sit about 2 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour. Soften 2 tablespoons of butter and stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and salt. At this point, the dough should be sticky. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes. Dough should be softer, but still slightly sticky. Shape into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for one hour. Dough will double in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Punch the dough to deflate it, then place on a lightly floured surface. Use a pizza cutter to slice dough into 12-15 pieces. Roll each piece into the thickness of your finger. Each piece of dough should be about 6-12 inches long.
Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Dip each pretzel stick in the soda solution, and lay on greased baking sheet (or pizza brick) leaving room between each pretzel stick.
Bake 5-7 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Melt butter. Brush over each stick. Dip pretzel sticks into sugar and brown sugar mixture.
Enjoy!
